Warwickshire Romanys refuse to be criminalised

[Gerrard Winstanley]

Apologies for the misleading quote at the start

Gerrard



LATEST STORY WITH PICTURE OF SITE

We're here for years, say Tessa Jowell's new gipsy neighbours
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=545334&in_page_id=1770

picture
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_04/DownHillJJS_590x650.jpg



--- In diggers350 at yahoogroups.com, "David Heller (Friends of the
Earth)" <david at ...> wrote:
>
> Dear Gerrard/TLIO,
> the quote you place at the top of the article is not from Jowell.
> It is from the wife of the businessman who sold the land 12 months ago.
> The paragraphs before the quote make this quite clear.
> ---
> The site was owned by businessman John Rutter but he sold it more than 
> 12 months ago. It has then been divided up in to plots which have been 
> sold on to families.
> His wife, Michelle, said yesterday he was on holiday, skiing in Austria.
> She said: ...
> ---
> 
> Of course, Jowell may hate travellers as well, but she isn't the one 
> quoted in this article...
> 
> david
> 
> 
> Gerrard Winstanley wrote:
> >
> > She said: "We sold the land through an agent. We hadn't got a clue
> > they had sold it to travellers." Asked whether she wanted gipsies
> > living on the site, she said: "Of course we don't."
> >
> > Gipsies building encampment near minister's home
> >
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2142650.0.Gipsies_building_encampment_near_ministers_home.php

> >
<http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2142650.0.Gipsies_building_encampment_near_ministers_home.php>
> > Glasgow Herald - THEO USHERWOOD - 25th March 2008
> >
> > A gipsy encampment has sprung up just 200 yards from the country home
> > of Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister.
> >
> > Dozens of travellers piled on to the site over the bank holiday
> > weekend, setting up a water supply and laying electricity cables.
> >
> > A septic tank has been installed and concrete pathways laid on the
> > site, near the town of Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire. Fencing has
> > also been erected and hedges have been pulled down.
> >
> > Residents reported the caravans moved on to the two-and-a-half acre
> > site on Friday, leading to accusations that the gipsies were taking
> > advantage of the public holiday when no-one at Warwickshire County
> > Council was working.
> >
> > The field, which has space for at least 30 caravans, is just 200 yards
> > from home of Ms Tessa Jowell, 60, and her estranged husband David
> > Mills. It was reported the gipsies had bought the site from a local
> > businessman.
> >
> > Conservative councillor Chris Saint, who represents the area on
> > Warwickshire County Council, said: "Up until last Thursday it was
> > simply a piece of pasture land. On Friday morning I got a call from
> > one of the parish councillors to say that there was some frenzied
> > activity taking place on the field.
> >
> > "I understand that water and electricity have been brought on and I
> > also understand they have put in a septic tank and put down roads and
> > fencing."
> >
> > Zack Follows, 31, said that about 100 English Romany Gipsies were on
> > the site. The father-of-four said there were 16 plots, which had each
> > been bought for about £20,000. There were two caravans on each plot.
> >
> > Mr Follows said: "The council is supposed to be supplying sites for
> > the gipsy community, but no sites are being provided and there is
> > nowhere for the community to go.
> >
> > "There is water and electricity. At the end of the day we are human
> > beings and we have got to make it liveable.
> >
> > "I want my children to go to school. We are not the sort that pull up
> > and down fields. Anyone is welcome to come down here and have a look.
> > Obviously it's a building site at the moment, but when it is finished
> > it will be done to perfection.
> >
> > "To be honest, I didn't even know Tessa Jowell until this morning when
> > I read the paper. But she is more than welcome to come down here, come
> > in to my home and see how we live."
> >
> > The site was owned by businessman John Rutter but he sold it more than
> > 12 months ago. It has then been divided up in to plots which have been
> > sold on to families.
> >
> > His wife, Michelle, said yesterday he was on holiday, skiing in
Austria.
> >
> > She said: "We sold the land through an agent. We hadn't got a clue
> > they had sold it to travellers." Asked whether she wanted gipsies
> > living on the site, she said: "Of course we don't."
> >
> > She declined to say how much the land had been sold for.
> >
> > 12:01am today
> >
> >
>