Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Travellers pitch up in Downhills Park
Three caravans and 2 camper vans seem to have set up home in Downhills Park.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Some good background from that report:
In 1968 the Caravan Sites Act placed a duty on local authorities to build council sites and while this was not fully enforced, it brought an increase in provision across the country. The duty was repealed in 1994 with the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. In London over 550 pitches were delivered on local authority sites between 1968 and 1997 but around 85 were lost in the early 2000s mainly due to redevelopment and regeneration. The Housing Act 2004 required local authorities to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers and meet this through local development plans. In London this led to the GLA commissioning a London-wide Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment to inform the London Plan. While initially the draft replacement London Plan of 2009 set targets for 800 new pitches to be provided across the London Boroughs, these were scrapped in later alterations following the Localism direction set by central government. Since then, there has been a net delivery of under 10 pitches
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish on
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Looks like lots of comments have been deleted, not just yours.
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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A comment was deleted which broke our terms of service. Having removed it the subsequent replies lost their context so they were removed too.
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Permalink Reply by Milda Rami on
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Those defending the travelers right to settle wherever they like might like to know that one of the first things they did was looting the Downhills cafe and stealing toys from the play area. Do they have a right to do this also? Is this how you gain welcome from your new neighbours?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I haven't read any comments that suggest that travellers should be able to settle anywhere. I certainly don't hold that view. The problem is that there is a massive lack of places where a caravan can legally be pitched which is what leads to situations like this one. And there is absolutely no excuse for criminal behaviour.
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If you look at the loss of traveller sites over the last decade the impetus seems to have been realising the development value of the land.
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Permalink Reply by Philip on
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Yes but that suggests that a return to statutary obligation might be advisable. These are a nomadic people, but when they camp on a public park, with lack of proper facilities, the likelihood of causing inconvenience and stress to the general public is high. If there is good provision for temporary stopping it becomes reasonable to be coercive about unofficial stopping.
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And yet Islington with no legal pitches has no illegal encampments so maybe precisely the opposite is true
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That doesn't even make sense. Illegal sites are often on waste ground, light industrial zones etc, rather than in a dense urban area. Are you seriously suggesting that a complete ban on legal, properly provisioned sites will lead to no illegal sites?
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No I'm saying that I don't necessarily believe that providing legal sites prevents illegal ones.
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