Dale Farm Delays.

As I sure you're all aware Basildon Council in the UK have been trying to evict a group Irish travellers from a site known as Dale Farm over alleged breaches of planning law. However these attempts have been delayed by a High Court injunction and could possibly be halted entirely pending a Judaical Review of the case. While these delays have frustrated Basildon Council they have allowed new information about the way that council enforces planning legislation to come to light.

Throughout the process Basildon Council and some members of the local settled community have argued that the travellers can't expect special treatment and if anyone else built on a greenbelt/greenfield* site without planning permission they too would be evicted. Lead amongst those making this argument has been a Mr Len Gridley who owns a property next to Dale Farm known as Windy Ridge. Mr Gridley has given many media interviews complaining about the travellers and has apparently specially rented three cherry picker mobile platforms to allow him to enjoy a perfect view of the eviction. However a search of the council's own planning records reveal that Mr Gridley's Windy Ridge property has something of a chequered history.

Prior to 1981 Windy Ridge was a greenfield site containing nothing but grass and a derelict agricultural building of unclear origin which dates back to before the introduction of planning regulations in 1948. Then the owner, Mr Selway renovated the agricultural building turning it into a dwelling/home. This type of land use change requires planning permission but in this case such permission was neither sort or granted but Basildon Council did nothing. Then in 1985 Len Gridley's father brought Windy Ridge from Mr Selway extended the dwelling, moved two caravans onto the site and built a number of sheds to be used as industrial workshops all without planning permission. In 1986 this prompted Basildon Council to issue three enforcement notices calling for; (1) the demolition of the dwelling and the sheds on the grounds they had been built without planning permission, (2) the removal of the caravans as they constituted an unauthorised change in land use and (3) the removal of the dwelling and the sheds as they also constituted an unauthorised change in land use. Mr Gridley Sr appealed against these notices and (2)&(3) along with the part of (1) referring to the dwelling were overturned on questionable grounds but the part of (1) that referred to the sheds was upheld. However Basildon council then failed to appeal the appeal and took no action to remove the sheds. Then in 1988 retrospective planning permission was applied for and granted by Basildon Council.

So in a way Len Gridley has a point because travellers do seem to get special treatment at the hands of Basildon Council. After all when members of the settled community build on greenbelt land without planning permission the council lets them but when travellers do the same the council spends £18 million trying to stop them.






*The greenbelt is a ring or belt of greenfield sites surrounding Britain's cities in order to prevent them encroaching into the countryside. So while a greenfield site is not necessarily part of the greenbelt a greenbelt site has to be a greenfield site. So in this instance the terms are pretty much interchangeable.