Dale Farm travellers apply for English Heritage protection status... for scaffolding

Travellers: Have applied to English Heritage to gain official protection status for the scaffolding gateway at the entrance to the site
12 April 2012

Residents of the UK's largest illegal travellers' site have applied to English Heritage to gain official protection status for the scaffolding gateway at the entrance to the site.

The gateway at Dale Farm near Basildon, Essex, adorned with posters and banners, has become an "emblem of the struggle for travellers' rights", according to the applicants.

The structure has been in place at the former scrapyard for five years and acts as part of the defence against bailiffs, a Dale Farm Solidarity spokesman said.

Resident Kathleen McCarthy said: "We're here to fight for our rights to a normal family life, for our children to get an education and for us to have security for our homes.

"The tower is all that stands between ourselves and the bailiffs. As long as it remains standing, we know that there are people outside our community who still care about our rights."

The English Heritage website says that it designates the status to "protect and celebrate England's historic buildings, monuments, parks, gardens, battlefields and wreck sites, by highlighting their special interest in a national context."

The clearance of Dale Farm was due to begin last week but an injunction preventing bailiffs moving in is currently in place while legal appeals are heard at the High Court.

The planned clearance follows a decade-long row over 51 unauthorised pitches on the six-acre travellers' site.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in