Newark community of Gypsies say they'll be forced to make illegal encampments

A community of Gypsies say they will be forced into making illegal encampments after losing a long legal battle.

Six families have been settled on a site off the A46 at Winthorpe for more than 4½ years. They own the land but don’t have planning permission from Newark and Sherwood District Council to live there.

The families have been fighting to be able to stay and have won appeals at the High Court in London.

However, the council appealed the judgment, and the planning inspectorate has now ruled the area is too noisy for the Gypsy community to live and is at risk of flooding.

They have been given 14 months to quit the land.

Gemma Lamb, a mother who lives on the site, said the council would be forcing them to take illegal actions if they were made to leave because the council hasn’t offered them an alternative site.

“I want to apologise to the people of Newark now because we’ll have to pull on to the side of the road or carparks, if we are forced to leave,” said Gemma.

“The council hasn’t offered us anywhere else to go.

“The inspectorate has just looked at the previous inspector’s decision and followed suit, despite what the High Court said — that the council hasn’t taken our needs into consideration and the fact the council doesn’t have land for us to go.

“The other sites in the area are full and there are no transit sites.”

Gemma denies the site is at risk of flooding, saying in bad weather of recent years they have only experienced a puddle.

She has told the council her community is willing to do whatever it takes to stay there — whether that be putting up acoustic fencing to shield from the A46 or planting more trees to disguise the site.

“The council just doesn’t care,” she said. “We are human beings too, the only difference being we live in tin boxes and you inside bricks and mortar.

“I just want to be able to sit down with councillors and have them listen to our story and understand we do have needs.

“We’ve even asked for temporary consent and they are against that — but when they say no, they don’t offer any alternative apart from telling us to go down Tolney Lane. But it doesn’t just work like that.

“And we’re not moving from Newark, this is our home.”

Gemma has family members who need to be settled in Newark to attend regular medical appointments, and says there are several people on her site with learning disabilities who attend special schools in the area and would find it very distressing to be moved.

Gemma said: “This is our community, the people around here like us. We’ve never had any complaints or police down here, and the noise simply doesn’t bother us.

“Us being here shouldn’t be down to the decision of a stranger who doesn’t know anything about us — but they are going to make us homeless.

“Just because we are Gypsies doesn’t mean you should tar everyone with the same brush, but we will end up being a hindrance to the council if they force us off because they have never supplied anywhere for Travellers.

“We are helping the council with the provision by staying here, it’s six less plots they’ve got to find.

“They need to listen to our story ­— we are only human.”

Gemma said they were planning to appeal the decision.

David Lloyd, leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “The recent decision by the planning inspectorate comes after previous court, enforcement, and appeal decisions.

“While the personal circumstances and needs of the occupants presented to the appeal process were heard in full, the Planning Inspectorate concluded that, despite a significant unmet need for Gypsy and Traveller pitches within the district, that the site was inappropriate for reasons of noise, flood risk and that the site is located within an open break between Newark and Winthorpe, where new development is currently heavily restricted.

“Accordingly the Planning Inspectorate has upheld the enforcement notice requiring that the site occupants vacate the site within 12 months and remove all unauthorised development of the land, including hard surfacing works and outbuildings within 14 months. I do sympathise with all those affected by this final decision.

“The district council continues to work to identify suitable sites to meet its current and future Gypsy and Traveller needs.

“Further updates will be presented to the public for consultation in the latter half of this year as to how this need could be met. In the interim I can assure residents of this unauthorised site that we will not be enforcing the requirements of the notice.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “There is a risk of flooding from the River Trent to this site and therefore, throughout the appeals process, we maintained our objection on flood risk grounds.”