Anger at travellers' camp
Travellers set up camp in a field near Newent despite a last-minute council attempt to stop them.
A dozen families arrived at the field on Friday and worked around the clock to make the site their home.
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The site taken over by travellers at Southend Lane near Newent
They laid a hard surface, put up portable toilets, dug a cesspit and 12 separate plots were fenced off.
It is understood the site is privately owned by one or more of the travelling community but no planning permission for residential use has been made.
The travellers insist they are using the land at Southend Lane after failing to find an adequate home elsewhere in the county.
A spokesman for the group, called Sam, said they wanted to be good neighbours.
"We are honest, law abiding citizens who just want a place to live," he said.
"We have applied to the council to give us a home on a number of occasions, but with no joy.
"We don't want to cause our new neighbours any harm and want to get on with them as anyone else would."
The arrival of the travellers confirmed the worst fears of residents who said they had warned Forest of Dean District Council this could happen more than two months ago.
They said men had been seen looking around the site, checking the local sewerage system and even made contact with their soon-to-be neighbours.
One resident, who didn't want to be named, said: "We warned the council that this would happen"
"The guys who were looking around said that they were planning to put horses on the site, but horses don't need electricity and a cesspit."
"They arrived at 5pm on Friday, worked through until about 10pm and then started at 6am on Saturday."
"There must have been at least 70 deliveries of stone to the site during the day on Saturday."
It is understood Forest of Dean District Council attempted to get a court injunction to stop the work, but it was turned down.
Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper said as no planning permission had been granted an enforcement notice would have to be issued.
Meanwhile, the Conservative MP has called for urgent reform into the way the travelling community find land to settle on.
"The current situation is deeply unsatisfactory," he said.
"The travellers feel that the local authority have not made enough local provision so they can therefore get away with this.
"They've not done what anyone else would do and go through the correct channels.
"In this instance the local authority did everything they could to prevent this from happening."
Forest of Dean District councillor Jayne Horne, whose Tibberton ward neighbours Southend Lane, echoed those views.
"Unfortunately the council's hands are tied on this issue and the powers that be are very sympathetic to travelling communities." she said.
"As they own the land it becomes a planning issue and the wheels move and grind so slowly."
Coun Horne said along with fellow councillor Len Lawton whose Newent Central ward covers Southend Lane, she would do all she could for residents.
"We will do all we can to help them, the law as it stands is wrong," she said.
The latest Government figures for January show there are 2,539 gypsy and traveller caravans in the south west – the highest ever and 893 of these were on sites without planning permission and only 317 were facing legal action as result.











88 Comments
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by Imanuel, Herts
Saturday, May 01 2010, 9:40AM
“Roma do not steal, murder, rape, they do not commit drunken violence on the streets, neither do they abuse children, or the welfare system.
For centuries we have been accused of the vilest of crimes, when in fact, it is the so called "Good Law-Abiding Tax Paying Citizens" that do these things.
These people, as long as they do no harm, ARE ALLOWED to live where they choose, God created the world for all men, not just gorji.
Secondly, stop placing the value of your houses above that of the value of human beings, Roma Gypsies are worth FAR MORE than the grandest of houses.
WE DO NOT BRING HOUSES DOWN, this is a lie, its the fluctuation of the markets, not Gypsies.
It is time the British public stop their nazism toward Gypsies, they would never do this to another ethnic race, so they have no justification WHATSOEVER to persecute us. The British people should be hang their heads in shame at such horrif behaviour.
AriseRoma
Roma Forever!
Roma Iterno ai terni!”
by john, newent
Sunday, November 01 2009, 1:05PM
“i am a traveller from newent and yes we do pay taxes and all we want is a place to live somewhere we can call home i am 19 years old and iv never had a home in my life so cant everyone leave us alone so we can live happy and peacefull”
by carl nowells, newent
Monday, August 10 2009, 11:38PM
“the gypsies aint no harm they got children like ay body els they just want somwere to live
wats the problem newent people leav them alone”
by anonymous, wales
Thursday, July 23 2009, 1:02AM
“i am sorry people feel like that about the romani race, i was born in a caravan my parents were both born in horsedrawn wagons, i went to secondary school left when i was 13 so was unable to get very far in life as im only a paramedic my sister was dyslexic being romani was never diagnosed as we are an illiterate race, she is now a pharmacist my brother works in london he is a barrister, my other brother was blown apart by a roadside bomb in afghan , both my grandfathers left their wives and families during the 2nd world war to fight for this country in which they had no rights, ive always paid council tax the only benefit ive ever drawn is child benefit for my two children who are now in school and doing well though my daughter like her aunt is dyslexic too, they know and are proud of their origin but we live in a big house in the country amongst smallminded people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths and not had to work just pass opinion on everyone so therefore my children will not admit they are romani, i am a single parent i bought my own home 10 yrs ago, there are new houses built behind my property and sold for astronomical prices the gordjer people in them are proud to watch their hooded youngsters loiter around the bus stop with their spray cans and their drugs as they have no need to work as their parents are so well off im not the only gypsy in the village there are a smalll few of us but its not us that are defacing and degrading the area, my property im sure has dropped in value due to being opposite the bus stop when i voice my concerns during community meetings im told by the parents when their children are named in no uncertain terms and in very colourful dialect what i can do with myself if i dont like it, though being of romani descent it doesnt phase me one bit if they want to try and break into my home as im now on a hitlist amongst these youngsters they will get their comeuppance , and i like any one else will probably end up in court lose my job and status and they will continue to make money in illegal substance outside my front door, id rather live on a gypsy camp among my own kin, but all the legal ones are full and i have to spend good money to move to an area which will be no better than where i am now, how i long for the old days , at least the bigots then used to come and tell you you werent welcome and they would bring the police to your door not nod and smile at you each morning and ring the authorities about you the same afternoon, and we know when we stopped somewhere enroute to a fair and sometimes stayed longer than a few days it was the gordjers in the area emptying their own rubish bags around the circumference of the camp and phoning in to report the mess we left??? we will only clean our own mess away if someone dumps their filth as we are leaving we wont stay another night just to clean it , we are busy you know living our lives and raising our kids , but i will take into consideration should i ever find my kids needing a home and are unable to afford one or obtain a council home when i build their plots on my land the views of the bigots who have lived in my surrounding area less than five minutes and ill send both my kids to the moon as they have nowhere else to go, ,also i have noticed people in every walk of life with caravans in their drives or on their property those caravans are in situ sometimes for years they have no planning they might only be used occasionaly for the wifes quicky with the milkman or maybe the husbands study of the female form via the internet but thats fine as long as they dont put proper sanitation in and sleep there as we wouldnt want them doing anything like that would we, well not without planning anyway”
by Unkown, Newent
Thursday, June 11 2009, 8:15AM
“It is a bloody disgrace i think they should be removed from the site as soon as possibale,
Your homes will not be safe with these 2nd class citizens living in your town. I think they should have a camp somewhere in the middle off nowhere. No place for them in newent or any where.”