The UK High Court has granted an interim injunction introducing a town-wide ban on unauthorised traveller encampments in the town of Harlow in Essex.
Harlow Council and Essex County Council applied for the interim injunction to prevent unauthorised camps from being set up on 454 “parcels” of land. More than 300 of the sites covered by the court order are considered “vulnerable”, including parks, playgrounds, cycle paths and previously occupied sites. Travellers have been moved from illegal camp sites on 109 separate occasions since October 2013, but this is the most extensive action taken so far and is the first town-wide ban on illegal encampments.
The injunction applied to 35 named travellers who will not be allowed to set up encampments anywhere in Harlow. The ban also applies to persons unknown from setting up encampments on the vulnerable sites and parcels of land. Under the temporary injunction anyone illegally camping in Harlow could be fined or imprisoned for contempt of court. The interim injunction was granted by Mrs Justice Patterson and will remain in place until a hearing for the full injunction takes place later this year.
According to Harlow Council’s leader Jon Clempner, “This injunction is about protecting the town’s vulnerable open spaces, upholding the law and responding and listening to the concerns of residents and businesses. It is not – and never has been – about persecuting any particular group of people or their way of life.”
The decision has been criticised by traveller advocacy groups. According to a Gypsy Council spokesman “Unauthorised encampments are a reaction to lack of provision by local authorities. What’s to stop the government from applying for an injunction for the whole country and managing to totally wipe out a way of life?”
Click here to read BBC News coverage.
Click here to read the Irish Times coverage.