Children In Deed
Tomorrow will be a big day for the children that need all the help they get. All across Britain, schools, companies and the BBC will get together to raise millions for some of the most vulnerable people in Britain. Yet before the telethon gets underway, some children will hear if their parents and grandparents may be jailed simply for having nowhere to put their caravans.
At 10 O’clock on the day that marks the UN day of the rights of the child the Hughes Family will be appear at Bristol Crown Court to possibly be committed to prison. Their crime?: Contempt of court. They simply have refused to follow a high court order forcing them to live at the side of the road.
Romany grandparents Diana and Arthur Hughes have tried four times to gain planning permission to keep their caravans and static homes at Gawbridge Mill, Kingsbury Episcopi in Somerset. But each time they have lodged an appeal it has been dismissed.
South Somerset District Council issued an enforcement order for them to leave the land, which the family has ignored, and now the family has been in defiance of an injunction issued in the High Court which required them to leave the site by Monday 31 August and restore the land to its original state by Friday 25 September.
They family say they want to continue following the Romany culture on the land which belongs to Mrs Hughes, and where they have water, electricity and a telephone landline for their three touring caravans and two static homes.
Lack of flood-risk assessments has been given as a reason by the council for the refusals of planning permission, but Mrs Hughes said: "We have never had any problems with flooding in the seven years we have been here."
Mr Hughes, aged 66, admits he would go back to the traditional travelling ways of his ancestors if he was on his own, but realises the importance of stability and schooling for his ten grandchildren.
"If we leave here, we will have to stay on the side of the road and have no running water to wash the children," he says. "We do not want to send the children back to school without having a shower.
The youngest grandchild is three weeks old and the oldest, Arthur Tyson Hughes, is 21, but is mentally handicapped. The family say he has the mental age of a four-year-old and needs constant care.
The court case has been condemned by the Children’s Society. It’s local representative Debbie Harvey said:
“The Children’s Society is extremely concerned about the committal proceedings currently being pursued by South Somerset District Council against the Hughes family who are currently living on the site at Gawbridge. In this case, South Somerset District Council will argue that the family and their children should not only be evicted from this site but that all the adults should be sent to prison; a move that we believe would seriously harm the welfare of these children."
“Evicting children and their families from their home is likely to have a serious impact on their education, health and welfare. Forcing children to live on the side of the road, in conditions which are not safe and without access to basic amenities, is simply unacceptable.
“This family have lived on this site, which they own, for many years, and have not been offered a suitable alternative pitch on which to live. The only alternative site they have been offered is fraught with difficulties for the family, and would mean the children would have to leave the schools and community where they are doing well.
“It is worth noting that this case begins on the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN Committee has previously raised concerns about the the treatment of Traveller and Gypsy children in this country, and has recommended that the Government reintroduce a statutory duty on local authorities to provide safe and adequate sites for Travellers.”
“The welfare of the children must always be the highest priority when decisions are being made about potentially evicting families”.
Mrs Hughes, 60, appeared in a book published last year about the travelling community, called Dreams Of The Road. She says her ancestors have been travelling around Somerset for hundreds of years, but now she wants to stay put.
"I could not live in a house because this is my culture. I love the outdoors," she said. "If we do not leave, though, I could face going to prison and I do not want that.”
"We will stick up and fight for this as we do not want to give up. The council could save the money they have to spend on finding us a plot for us if they let us stay here at no cost to the taxpayer."
But Lucy Hughes, the daughter of the site owners, said her family had been in the area for 60 years since her father was a little boy. "We've been brought up around here and I don't think it's right for us to go on the road," she said.
If you’re in Bristol at 10:00 am on Children In Need day, there are some Gypsy kids that need your support to keep 4 of their parents and grandparents out of jail. Simply go to:
The Law Courts
Small Street
Bristol England
BS1 1DA