Residents form human barricade to stop travellers building 'illegal' site in picture-postcard village



IT wasn't quite how they imagined spending the Bank Holiday.

But residents of a village in the heart of England found themselves having to form a human barricade to prevent a band of gipsies from building an illegal settlement.

In time-honoured fashion, the gipsies rolled on to the green-belt site on Friday evening in the hope of exploiting the long weekend. They hoped to establish their camp while council officials were off work and powerless to stop them.

No-go zone: Angry residents of Meriden, Warwickshire, banded together in a bid to stop gipsy travellers moving onto land on Eaves Green Lane and installing drains and electricity

But they reckoned without the resolve of villagers and farmers who have camped day and night outside the eight-acre camp to prevent building materials being taken in.

Yesterday, the villagers told how they had given up their Bank Holiday weekends to preserve the tranquility of the village of Meriden in the countryside close to Coventry in the West Midlands.

One of the group, Adam Beaty, 42, said: 'We will stay here day and night as long as it takes. As soon as the caravans started arriving, word went around and we got up here with our own tractors, trailers and pick-ups.

Holiday vigil: Vowing to stay day and night over the Bank Holiday to protect their village, these encamped residents have been supplied with food and drink from local shops and takeaways

'If we have to abide by planning legislation then so should they. Local shops and takeaways have been providing free food and drink for us. It just goes to show what can happen when the community pulls together.'

The stand-off began at the site at 5.30pm on Friday when around 40 gipsies in 14 caravans, three diggers, an earth mover and various pick-up trucks thundered down Eaves Green Lane to the site.

Within minutes, word went around and residents and local farmers descended on the entrance.

Under construction: Caravans and diggers managed to get into the site before Meriden residents formed their human barricade. The land was sold to the gipsies for £50,000 just over a year ago

Although they could not stop the gipsies digging up the former grazing land, they persuaded the drivers of three trucks full of hardcore to turn around.

On Saturday, a second convoy of hardcore was blocked after a pickup truck became 'stuck' in the country lane, forcing the gipsies to abandon further construction.

Then Solihull Council called officers in from their Bank Holiday to issue a stop notice, which prohibits further development for the next 28 days.

Picturesque: The 15th century Meriden Wayside Cross is said to be the geographical centre of England

Despite that, the gipsies were yesterday seen putting up a shed on the land, in apparent contravention of the order. They are due to apply to the council to lift the order tomorrow.

It later emerged that the gipsies lodged a planning application for the site at 4.50pm on Friday - ten minutes before the council closed.

Around the same time, a separate group of gipsies moved on to another green-belt site ten miles away at Hatton, Warwickshire.



Moving in: Despite a council order to stop work, building continued at the site in Meriden yesterday

Throughout the night, beneath industrial arc lights, a convoy of lorries rumbled along the country lanes to drop off asphalt at the start of the illegal Bank Holiday building project.



By Sunday, plots for 14 caravans had been marked and laid, and a septic tank, mains electricity and water supply had been installed.



One resident said: 'This is horrendous. We moved here because it is a beautiful undisturbed corner of the countryside where you would never imagine something like this happening.'

The gipsies said they had applied for planning permission but it had not been granted.

Around 40 villagers remained in Meriden yesterday, watched by police to ensure there was no breach of the peace. The villagers huddled around fires outside the site and at a junction down the lane.

The new owner of the land is Noah Burton, a gipsy who is understood to own a property in nearby Balsall Common. He was at the site yesterday but refused to comment.

On Saturday, another gipsy boasted: 'We are here for good!'

Solihull Council was unavailable for comment. Travellers and gipsies have been able to develop sites without planning consent in the knowledge that they can simply apply for retrospective permission.