Trespassers Charter
Prescott's "trespassers' charter" for travellers
New guidance slipped out by John Prescott's Whitehall department creates a "trespassers' charter" for travellers, senior Conservatives have protested.The latest official policy issued via the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website, undermines the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, introduced when Michael Howard was Home Secretary in 1994, and which allows the authorities to crack down on trespassers by seizing and removing any vehicles from a site when people have refused to comply with a direction to leave.
The new rules explicitly state that forced evictions of illegal traveller camps are banned if the land is publicly owned, that councils and the police cannot infringe any aspect of the Human Rights Act when dealing with travellers, that welfare checks for travellers take priority when dealing with illegal encampments, and that police and councils 'should be sensitive to different cultural perspectives' of travellers.Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles warned that the latest Prescott edict adds up to a green light for travellers to set up camps on parks, open spaces, and fields owned by councils and other public bodies.He said: "
Mr Blair's human rights laws and planning regulations have made it increasingly difficult for local councils to enforce planning laws and stop unauthorised developments. Now, on the quiet, John Prescott has issued a 'trespassers' charter' that completely undermine the laws passed in the 1990s to evict illegal occupiers. Labour's promises of action on this crisis are all talk."Mr Pickles told conservatives.com: "Travellers are now free to disregard planning laws and occupy public land, in the knowledge that their 'cultural and welfare' needs will be deemed more important than protecting the environment. The British people have an inherent sense of fair play.
There shouldn't be one rule for some and another for others. But law-abiding citizens are now the forgotten majority. Only Conservatives offer action to tackle this growing crisis."Meanwhile, leading Tories stepped up pressure in the Commons by calling on the Government to stage a special debate on the travellers issue.Challenging Leader of the House Peter Hain to grant time for a discussion, Shadow Local Government Minister Philip Hammond joined several Conservatives making the request, and commented: "
Travellers see this Government as a 'soft touch' and have been allowed to make a mockery of planning law by deliberately setting up unauthorised encampments. Far from dealing with the problem, the Government is now demanding that Councils find more precious greenfield land for traveller sites and ordering them to give travellers special treatment in the planning system. It is simply not fair to have one law for travellers and another for everyone else."
New guidance slipped out by John Prescott's Whitehall department creates a "trespassers' charter" for travellers, senior Conservatives have protested.The latest official policy issued via the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website, undermines the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, introduced when Michael Howard was Home Secretary in 1994, and which allows the authorities to crack down on trespassers by seizing and removing any vehicles from a site when people have refused to comply with a direction to leave.
The new rules explicitly state that forced evictions of illegal traveller camps are banned if the land is publicly owned, that councils and the police cannot infringe any aspect of the Human Rights Act when dealing with travellers, that welfare checks for travellers take priority when dealing with illegal encampments, and that police and councils 'should be sensitive to different cultural perspectives' of travellers.Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles warned that the latest Prescott edict adds up to a green light for travellers to set up camps on parks, open spaces, and fields owned by councils and other public bodies.He said: "
Mr Blair's human rights laws and planning regulations have made it increasingly difficult for local councils to enforce planning laws and stop unauthorised developments. Now, on the quiet, John Prescott has issued a 'trespassers' charter' that completely undermine the laws passed in the 1990s to evict illegal occupiers. Labour's promises of action on this crisis are all talk."Mr Pickles told conservatives.com: "Travellers are now free to disregard planning laws and occupy public land, in the knowledge that their 'cultural and welfare' needs will be deemed more important than protecting the environment. The British people have an inherent sense of fair play.
There shouldn't be one rule for some and another for others. But law-abiding citizens are now the forgotten majority. Only Conservatives offer action to tackle this growing crisis."Meanwhile, leading Tories stepped up pressure in the Commons by calling on the Government to stage a special debate on the travellers issue.Challenging Leader of the House Peter Hain to grant time for a discussion, Shadow Local Government Minister Philip Hammond joined several Conservatives making the request, and commented: "
Travellers see this Government as a 'soft touch' and have been allowed to make a mockery of planning law by deliberately setting up unauthorised encampments. Far from dealing with the problem, the Government is now demanding that Councils find more precious greenfield land for traveller sites and ordering them to give travellers special treatment in the planning system. It is simply not fair to have one law for travellers and another for everyone else."
posted by Carolyn @ 8:34 PM
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