Post by Madhatter on Mar 29, 2008 15:12:21 GMT
How would you feel if gypsies bought a piece of land on the outskirts of Atherstone and set about building an estate over a bank holiday week end. By the time the council were back from holiday the electrics, water and sanitation and road were in and bases for caravans were being installed. The value of houses surrounding the site halved in value. The only way to remove them would be lengthy court battles lasting years and hundreds of thousands of pounds.
This is exactly what happened at shipston recently and shares striking resemblence to what happened at redgate. Gypsies bought a piece of land just this side of the junction on the northbound carriageway and set about putting a drive in with bases, it took the council months to get them off the land. They claimed that their human rights were being infringed.
news story from The Daily Mail
His lawyer has told him not to say anything, insists father-of-three Tom Brazil before taking the controls of a mechanical digger.
One has to wonder how Mr Brazil can actually afford a fancy solicitor. Or, indeed, the digger. The one he is now manoeuvring costs £135 a day to hire.
Two much bigger beasts, capable of shifting six tons of earth a minute - and costing around £200 a day to rent - have only recently left the "site" after four days, along with a tarmac roller, a fleet of lorries, vans and workmen with jackets bearing the company name "A1 Roofing."
So almost before you could say "Tessa Jowell" (the £1 million country retreat of Olympics Minister Miss Jowell and her estranged husband David Mills is just up the road), the field beside the A429 near Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, had been transformed into Britain's most notorious illegal gipsy camp.
Complete with hardcore bases for 16 permanent caravan homes (including a 32ft by 12ft luxury residence), running water, electricity, TV aerials and fences neatly dividing pitches, the place, we are assured, will look "beautiful" when completed with flowers and paving stones.
And all thrown up in the space of 48 hours. Perhaps Miss Jowell should get them to build the Olympic Village.
So how have they managed it? Answer: With the help of solicitors (they are also understood to have received advice from a private planning consultant), a forensic understanding of the local planning laws and a military precision that would make your hair stand on end - particularly if you live near a vacant piece of land.
Down to the last detail, Tom Brazil and his group knew exactly what they were doing.
They "secretly" clubbed together to buy the land for about £12,000 a year ago. The local businessman who sold them the site was told it would be used to "graze horses."
Then they laid low for months to avoid suspicion.
They waited to make their move until the start of the Easter holiday weekend, because they knew that for four days then there would be no council enforcement officers at work to stop them.
They were right. Surprising your "enemy" is, after all, one of the most important elements of a successful campaign.
It was, indeed, on Tuesday morning - four days after they had arrived - that they were challenged by local council officials. Should we really be surprised that Mr Brazil was waiting with the number of his solicitor to hand?
How much is Mr Brazil paying for his lawyer? He wouldn't say. Nor would he say if he was receiving legal aid.
"It's not relevant," he said. Residents living nearby, whose homes are now worth 50 per cent less than they were the day before Mr Brazil and Co arrived, might disagree.
www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=548431&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&ct=5&expand=true#StartComments
This is exactly what happened at shipston recently and shares striking resemblence to what happened at redgate. Gypsies bought a piece of land just this side of the junction on the northbound carriageway and set about putting a drive in with bases, it took the council months to get them off the land. They claimed that their human rights were being infringed.
news story from The Daily Mail
His lawyer has told him not to say anything, insists father-of-three Tom Brazil before taking the controls of a mechanical digger.
One has to wonder how Mr Brazil can actually afford a fancy solicitor. Or, indeed, the digger. The one he is now manoeuvring costs £135 a day to hire.
Two much bigger beasts, capable of shifting six tons of earth a minute - and costing around £200 a day to rent - have only recently left the "site" after four days, along with a tarmac roller, a fleet of lorries, vans and workmen with jackets bearing the company name "A1 Roofing."
So almost before you could say "Tessa Jowell" (the £1 million country retreat of Olympics Minister Miss Jowell and her estranged husband David Mills is just up the road), the field beside the A429 near Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, had been transformed into Britain's most notorious illegal gipsy camp.
Complete with hardcore bases for 16 permanent caravan homes (including a 32ft by 12ft luxury residence), running water, electricity, TV aerials and fences neatly dividing pitches, the place, we are assured, will look "beautiful" when completed with flowers and paving stones.
And all thrown up in the space of 48 hours. Perhaps Miss Jowell should get them to build the Olympic Village.
So how have they managed it? Answer: With the help of solicitors (they are also understood to have received advice from a private planning consultant), a forensic understanding of the local planning laws and a military precision that would make your hair stand on end - particularly if you live near a vacant piece of land.
Down to the last detail, Tom Brazil and his group knew exactly what they were doing.
They "secretly" clubbed together to buy the land for about £12,000 a year ago. The local businessman who sold them the site was told it would be used to "graze horses."
Then they laid low for months to avoid suspicion.
They waited to make their move until the start of the Easter holiday weekend, because they knew that for four days then there would be no council enforcement officers at work to stop them.
They were right. Surprising your "enemy" is, after all, one of the most important elements of a successful campaign.
It was, indeed, on Tuesday morning - four days after they had arrived - that they were challenged by local council officials. Should we really be surprised that Mr Brazil was waiting with the number of his solicitor to hand?
How much is Mr Brazil paying for his lawyer? He wouldn't say. Nor would he say if he was receiving legal aid.
"It's not relevant," he said. Residents living nearby, whose homes are now worth 50 per cent less than they were the day before Mr Brazil and Co arrived, might disagree.
www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=548431&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&ct=5&expand=true#StartComments
