Staines, UK. 17th Aug, 2017. Travellers who have occupied a field next to Spelthorne Council offices in Staines were this morning being moved off by bailiffs employed by the council. The travellers, families of evangelical Christians who run legitimate businesses and pay taxes, had kept the site in spotless condition and were eager to tell me their side of the story as they packed preparing to leave peacefully. Credit: Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News
Staines, UK. 17th August 2017. Travellers who have occupied a field next to Spelthorne Council offices in Staines were this morning being moved off by bailiffs employed by the council. The travellers, families of evangelical Christians who run legitimate businesses and pay taxes, had kept the site in spotless condition and were eager to tell me their side of the story as they packed preparing to leave peacefully. There is a desperate shortage of traveller sites in North East Surrey, with Spelthorne having only one public site with only 10 pitches. They say sites which the councils have suggested have 40 year waiting lists. The travellers own land at Adas Farm, Chertsey where they were started to set up a permanent site on a rather scrappy piece of Green Belt, but were given 10 days to leave by the High Court on 10th June. They had applied for but not received planning permission, but had begun work on the site. They moved to other sites in Runnymede Borough, who then obtained an injunction barring them from publicly owned land, so moved across the river into Spelthorne; they arrived at the unused field beside the council offices in Staines on Friday 4 August. The council's legal bid to get them moved on was defeated in court yesterday but this morning bailiffs and police arrived at the site, ordering them to leave. The travellers say their eviction is illegal as the law being used only applies to private land, and that Spelthorne council have not taken the required steps before the eviction, including considering the welfare of the children concerned. Neither GRC bailiffs who escorted me from the site nor the Surrey Law Enforcement team were willing to answer any questions about the eviction or its legal basis and Spelthorne Council were making no comment, but it would appear to be being made under Common Law. Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News
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