Traveller site lockdown ahead of bailiffs

SUPPORTERS and Travellers resisting the clearance of Dale Farm last night locked down the site as they prepared for the arrival of bailiffs.

Basildon Council-employed bailiffs are due to arrive at the six-acre illegal site today.

Those on site spent yesterday making last-minute preparations, reinforcing barricades and building a wall to block the bailiffs’ entry point.

This evening a final influx of supporters, legal observers and journalists were allowed on to the site. The gate on a scaffold battlement erected at the entry to Dale Farm will be closed at dusk and supporters will reinforce it from behind.

A last-minute meeting between Basildon Council and Dale Farm residents was cancelled after the representatives were told by the protesters that they were no longer welcome on site.

The meeting was planned to explain how the council’s contractors would go about starting the site clearance today and to provide reassurances to the community.

Council leader Tony Ball said: “We are very concerned by these latest developments and reports that so-called supporters appear to be calling the shots. We wanted to do everything possible to keep residents updated about the operation and to listen to concerns and address any final requirements.

“We are very concerned that tension has increased and it may now make our job of clearing the site in a safe and orderly manner even more difficult.”

About 80 families living on Dale Farm face eviction following a decade-long row over 51 unauthorised plots. Half of the site, which has planning consent, will remain.

Many residents have temporarily moved caravans on to the neighbouring legal site. They say they do not want their children to face the bailiffs, but insist they are not leaving permanently.