Funding confirmed for new Basildon site
Above: the plan for the new site, which will include a community building, children's play area and new and retained trees. Plan reproduced courtesy of ITMB/HSSA
THE HOMES and Communities Agency has confirmed a grant of just over £1m for a new 15-pitch site for Gypsies and Travellers in the Basildon area who are "most in need" of a place to stay.
The news comes after a successful joint application by the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain and specialist site builders HomeSpace Sustainable Accommodation.
The site, which will be located on Gardiners Way, just off the A127 in Basildon, is less than a mile as the crow flies from the Dale Farm site.
The development will extend HomeSpace's reputation for providing liveable and ecologically sound Traveller sites, such as their award-winning site at Lower Harker Dene near Carlisle.
Gardiner's Way will include a community building and children's play area, as well as grassy areas, both new and established trees and a native English hedge boundary.
Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of ITMB, says: “We welcome the decision by the Homes and Communities Agency to grant funds for what will be a model of good practice in the provision of suitable affordable accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers.”
“We hope that Basildon’s decision to support and encourage accommodation provision for some of its neediest residents will indicate a positive way forward for other councils, in both the wider Essex region and the rest of the UK, who may be currently planning future site provision for their Gypsy and Traveller communities.”
Joe Hurn, HSSA Director says: “Home Space welcomes the announcement of funding from HCA and looks forward to working in partnership with ITMB, HCA and Basildon BC to provide suitable and appropriate accommodation for those Gypsies and Travellers most in need in the Basildon area.”
At £1,020,000, the HCA grant for the new site is but a fraction of the total cost of the eviction of part of the nearby Dale Farm site in 2011. Estimates for the total cost of the Dale Farm saga ranged as high as £22m, and Basildon Council presented the cleared site's Traveller residents with a bill for £4.3m in March this year.
Steve Greener, Senior Area Manager for the HCA said: “This is an important step forward in the provision of Traveller sites across the East where there is a high need. We would like to thank the Irish Traveller’s Movement and Home Space for the hard work they put into the bid and we look forward to working with them and Basildon Council to deliver a great site.”
Basildon Council's support for the site came in spite of their having carried out the most expensive peacetime eviction in British history at Dale Farm.
Kathleen McCarthy, a former resident of Dale Farm, told the Guardian earlier this year: "If only they could have approved a few sites like this last year, then there would have been no need to put us out of our homes and on to the roadside. It's a step in the right direction and it shows there is an alternative to evictions. This is what we always asked for."