Westminster Diary - 13th July 2006

Thursday, 13th July 2006

The occupation of public and private land by groups of travellers is becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence, particularly during the summer months. It has happened this summer in Rugby and Kenilworth. There are those who say that this is something we simply have to get used to in modern Britain and that we should respect and accommodate the lifestyle choice of others. I disagree.

First, let me be clear. I do not want to tell anyone how they should live their lives. I believe in personal freedom, but not in unlimited personal freedom at the expense of the freedom of others. I do not accept that the travelling community should be able to pursue their lifestyle regardless of the rights and interests of others to enjoy the parks and recreation grounds, or in the case of private land owners, to put those landowners to the trouble and expense of evicting them when they trespass.

Secondly, I accept that the behaviour of some of the travellers we have seen in the town this summer is not representative of the whole travelling community. The fact remains however that in all the incidents of trespass by travellers in this area over recent weeks, criminal damage has been caused to give access to the land and the travellers involved have left a huge mess to be cleared up when they departed. The repairs and the cleaning up cost money – our money. Which brings me to the next problem – many travellers pay no tax. They earn a living in the black economy and do not feel the need to contribute to society’s bank balance. That means we as taxpayers often fund the lifestyle of some travellers without any contribution from the travellers themselves. This cannot be tolerated.

So what is to be done? First travellers on settled sites must pay council tax for the services they use, just as the rest of us have to. Secondly, we should remember that trespass and criminal damage are against the law and act accordingly. The police have powers to order trespassers to leave the land they occupy and to make arrests if necessary. Those powers are there to be used and this is a point I intend to make, again, to our new Chief Constable.

Anti-social behaviour, damaging the property of others and leaving others with the bill are not acceptable lifestyle choices.

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Updated on Thursday, 13th July 2006