Hope for a home

By ANDREE MORGAN ANDREWS

A campaign group, formed by settled residents and a Gypsy and Traveller community, has joined forces in the fight to save a local site from closure after an11year old intense struggle by the Gypsies and Traveller families to get permanent planning permission passed.

Sue King, from the Gypsy family living on the River Lane site, was at the first campaign group meeting - aptly named ‘Hope for a Home’ - which took place at Bookham Baptist Church, Leatherhead, Surrey.

“We are Gypsy people and we have always lived around Surrey,” she says.

“We needed somewhere to settle so that the children could go to school and nursery school. We have never had an offer for housing from the council.”

As part of the campaign, Leatherhead residents are raising funds through various fun and innovative community activities to help comply with the “draconian” temporary planning conditions imposed by the Planning Inspectorate, including the planting of 100 trees and extensive landscaping.

Jenny Moore, who helps run B@titude, the Leatherhead community shop and centre that is the hub for ‘Hope for a Home’, says;

‘’There is significant support on the ground so we must be able to do something!! One idea is to sponsor a tree, get a work force to help do the physical work, hold Bingo evenings, barbecues or whatever we can think of.”

The Planning Inspector granted a three year temporary permission in April 2013 but the River Lane Site residents were told that the permission would be withdrawn after a year if conditions – including planting 100 trees - were not complied with.

In three weeks ‘Hope for a Home’ has raised nearly £2,000 and when there is enough cash to purchase all the trees the campaigners will hold a tree-planting ceremony to mark the occasion.

‘Hope for a Home’ campaigner Neal Casey says: “We can’t just watch this story being told over and over again. We had to do something. So we thought we would try and gather some people together to see what we can do.”

In a bid to win over the Mole Valley District Council Planning Committee, River Lane residents have submitted another application for a reduced size site but sadly this has also been refused.

Jenny Moore declared; “I like to think the best of people and give them the benefit of the doubt and the council say it is planning issues but as time has gone on I can only put it down to racism”.

The link to the fundraising site to sponsor a tree is here: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/riverlane/186856