Thoughts on Dale Farm

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Just a couple of thoughts on the planned evictions and demolitions at Dale Farm, where a traveller community has overshot its planning permission:

I wonder how people’s attitude would change if instead of travellers who had overstepped their planning permit, it was a middle class community who had built 4 bedroom houses?

Guess what: evicting these people, bulldozing everything and then dealing with the homeless men, women and children you’ve created is going to cost a hell of a lot more taxpayer money than just leaving them be. Yes, they were wrong to overstep their planning permission (might I add overstep – since they did rightfully have it for half the site), but going in with bulldozers is mindlessly destructive.

These stupid generalisations about the traveller community are disgusting, too.  Yeah, there are some troublemakers, but there are troublemakers in every social strata.  I doubt travellers are actually any worse than the underclasses on many council estates.  There are troublemakers in the upper class too — but we hang an award round their necks and call them “Mr. Chairman”, because the people they hurt are indirect and far away.  Compared to the bankers who invest in cluster bombs for example, the “pikey” kid who nicks your bike is a saint.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you, that is another thoughtful piece. u00a0You are right about how these people are being treated. u00a0Yes they overstepped the mark a little, but you hear about people doing that to their own houses all the time and they get the chance to have retrospective permission. u00a0It is shocking that people will be made homeless when at the moment they have homes. u00a0These people will need to be re-homed and as you say that will cost even more to the tax payer.