Meriden anti-Gypsy protestors may be evicted

For over 18 months they have braved the elements to keep up a round-the-clock protest in the heart of the country, the exact centre of England.

Come rain or shine, they will neither budge from their cause nor brook their moral outrage.

But these protestors are not waving placards against civilian deaths in Libya, or the fleecing of Britain's taxpayers of billions by City banks.

They are here for one simple reason: because a family of Romany Gypsies have had the nerve to stay on their own private land on the outskirts of the village.

Outraged at the Romanies' use of retrospective planning, the people of Meriden, Warwickshire, later found that their protest camps were in breach of planning guidance, and that they'd have to take the same legal route as the Gypsies whose presence had caused them such anguish.

Now, as the local council decides whether to take enforcement action against the protest camps, Meriden's anti-Gypsy protestors may get a feel for the stress that the threat of eviction brings.

Solihull Borough Council delayed taking enforcement action because villagers had lodged an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for the site.

According to the BBC, councillors are due to meet at 4:30pm today (21st December) to decide the fate of the protest camps, which have remained in place since a court of appeal rejected the Romanies' case for eight pitches in October.

Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, intervened personally to express his support for the council's decision.

The row began in the spring of 2010 when an extended Romany Gypsy family began work on a new permanent site at Eaves Green Lane, Meriden. The site falls within a green-belt zone designed to limit new developments in the area between Coventry, Birmingham and Solihull.

Villagers blockaded the road to the site, which is owned by Romany man Noah Burton, and turned away lorries carrying building materials to the site. The Romanies had lodged a legitimate planning application prior to a bank holiday weekend, which local non-Travellers viewed as unacceptable.

To watch Travellers' Times' original report on the Meriden stand-off, click here.