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Help Us Save Our Home
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Background
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Updates/Press releases
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Mike and Patty Linfoot have lived in the Chorley area all their lives, as have their parents before them. They are Romany Gypsies. In 2008, the family bought a small plot of land in Chorley in order to practise their Romany culture whilst being part of the settled community and sending their three sons to school.
After hugely improving the site by removing large quantities of rubbish left by previous owners, putting in land drainage and planting trees, the family moved onto the site in June 2009 and immediately applied for planning permission for change of use. The planning application and the appeal were both refused. The land is in the Green Belt and a Traveller site is not seen as appropriate development. However, the site is so well screened by trees it doesn’t affect the visual amenity of the Green Belt. A local resident said that you could walk past it without knowing it was there and when driving to the site it is not visible until you are right outside. Patty and Mike have environmentally enhanced the site by removing the rubbish and planting lots of trees. The clean and tidy site is considerably greener than it was before. However, the family and their supporters have been constantly harassed and threatened by a small number of local residents and Patty and Mike have been subjected to overt racial abuse. As a result one resident needed counselling and solicitor’s letters were sent. In general, though, Mike and Patty have huge support in the area. This was demonstrated recently, at a very well attended public meeting where they had 100% backing to stay in the area. It is only a small group of very vocal and well organised residents who oppose them. The council failed to determine a second, reduced planning application which was submitted in June 2011. An appeal to be heard in the High Court in Manchester on 7th November will go ahead despite Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles having called the application in. Chorley Council have said that they still intend to contest the case. Ever since moving onto the site, the Linfoots have attempted to liaise with the Council, offering compromises and alternatives in an attempt to resolve the matter. The leader of the Council recently referred to brown-field sites available in the borough and Mike suggested a land swap. The Council has never got back to him. The Council maintain there is no demand for a Gypsy/Traveller site within the borough but this is patently untrue. Traveller Education reports many roadside encampments and articles in a local paper refer to Council evictions of significant numbers of Travellers. There is a well substantiated local need for a site. The council has a legal responsibility to cater for the housing needs of Gypsies and Travellers and to include their plans for this provision in the Development Plan due in 2013. Furthermore, eviction from the site will seriously threaten the family's human rights: Mike and Patty Linfoot have lived in the Chorley area all their lives, as have their parents before them. Everyone has a right to a home. The Linfoot’s home is in Chorley, where they play an active part in the community. If evicted they will lose their home. Everyone has a right to a family life. If evicted they will be back on the roadside with family life totally disrupted. Everyone has the right to practise their culture - living in a caravan as part of an extended family is part of Romany Gypsy culture. Children have a right to education. On the roadside, the boys will have little chance of going to school. Everyone has the right to medical care. On the roadside this will be very difficult. For all of these reasons we urge you to support the family in their campaign to stay in their home. |
10/07/13 - >> Victory! <<
After a four year battle with Chorley Council, Mike and Pattie have succeeded in keeping their family home. An amended planning application to use their small piece of land in Chorley as a Gypsy site was given two years’ temporary planning permission at the Planning Meeting at Chorley Town Hall on 9th July. 
Delighted supporters commented, “it’s a wonderful result, they are such a lovely family,”… “I can’t believe we don’t have to go home and plan for the next battle” … “now the children are safe at school and the family can at last get on with their lives”.
As friends and supporters gathered to celebrate, Pattie Linfoot said “It’s fantastic news! We’ve had so many messages of support. I’d like to thank everyone for their help. We couldn’t have done it without them. Now we can relax and enjoy family time.” RAPAR’s Sandy Broadhurst said: “This is certainly a great result for the Linfoot family and a tribute to they and all their supporters – but it also has implications for all Travellers. Chorley Council failed to include provision for Travellers in their Town Plan and failed to make adequate assessments of Gypsy and Traveller need in their area. This is not acceptable. All Gypsies and Travellers have the right to appropriate housing and the opportunity to pursue their culture. Let’s hope that the Linfoots’ victory is the start of proper provision for Travellers throughout Lancashire and Greater Manchester.” --- 14/11/12 - Letter of support in the Chorley Guardian
See below --
10/11/12 - Demo shows support for the Linfoots (w/video)
On Wednesday 7th November a cold but very lively group of supporters met outside the High Court on Bridge Street, Manchester to show their support for the Linfoot family in their bid not to be evicted from their home in Chorley. Their posters gave the message,‘don’t evict Gypsies, build them sites’, a message that could be applied not just to the Linfoots but to Gypsies and Travellers up and down the country. (See BBC news coverage of Mike and Patty's story and the demo here.) Mike and Patty have been fighting to keep their family home for nearly four years but the council persist in maintaining that there is no need for a Traveller site in the area. This is despite the fact that they haven’t done a needs assessment for Gypsies/Travellers since 2006 whilst at the same time putting a lot of effort into keeping Travellers out of the town! The council have also refused all attempts by Mike and Patty to find alternative sites or compromises. The family and their supporters and now waiting with fingers crossed to hear the judge's decision on their case. 03/11/12 - ***Support the Linfoots at their crucial High Court hearing on Wednesday 7th November***
RAPAR is calling on supporters to assemble for a demonstration outside the High Court at 9:30am (immediately prior to the hearing), where the Linfoots will defend their family against Chorley Council’s continued refusal to allow them to live in peace. Hearing is 10:00am, Wednesday November 7th; assemble at 9:30am for demo. Address of High Court: Manchester Civil Justice Centre, 1 Bridge Street West, Manchester, Greater Manchester, England , M60 9DJ Additionally, letters to Chorley Council calling on it to do the right thing would be very helpful and much appreciated. A template letter, including details of where to email/post it to, is provided here if wanted. See press release below for more -- 03/11/12 - Press release (click here for downloadable version)
--- RAPAR The Manchester-based Human Rights Organisation PRESS RELEASE Saturday November 3rd 2012 - For immediate release ROMANY GYPSY FAMILY HEAD FOR HIGH COURT – WITH STRONG SUPPORT
The Romany Gypsy family who have been fighting to stay on their Chorley site where they have lived for the last four years, will be in the High Court in Manchester next Wednesday. The Linfoots will be defending their family against Chorley Council’s continued refusal to allow them to live in peace. Even the Government has seen sense, by deciding not to defend Chorley Council’s appeal, but the local council is carrying on regardless. If this appeal fails, the Council intends to apply for an injunction in March to evict the family from their home. Last week, just hours before a packed public meeting in Chorley demonstrated the rooted support and high esteem that surrounds this Gypsy family, the government confirmed that it was not backing Chorley Council. This week, the family are preparing to overcome the Council’s intransigence. Their lawyer, Keith Coughtrie of Lester Morrill inc David Gore Lomax LLP points out: “Mike and Patty have proposed alternative local sites to the council but the council have either refused on the basis that they were not suitable or not responded to the proposal. The council have not offered any local alternative site.” RAPAR, the Manchester based human rights organisation, is calling for people to assemble outside the courts at 09.30 next Wednesday morning to show our solidarity with our Gypsies. ENDS --- Background Mike and Patty Linfoot, their three sons, and Patty’s parents have been living in their caravans on a site at Hut Lane, Heath Charnock, for four years. They own the land but Chorley council has refused to give them planning permission to live on it - even though the children are happily settled in local schools and Patty and Mike are active in the community. Most of the small site is screened by trees but the council upheld the objections to the site made by a small number of local residents and the council’s decision was backed by a planning inspector. See www.rapar.org.uk/help-us-save-our-home.html See http://www.lep.co.uk/community/traveller-family-are-supported-at-meeting-1-5069260 CONTACT For more information, please contact Dr Rhetta Moran, RAPAR Matron Mobile: 07776264646 Email: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------- 23/10/12 - Press release
--- RAPAR The Manchester-based Human Rights Organisation PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, October 23rd 2012 - For immediate release ROMANY GYPSY FAMILY AT RISK OF EVICTION SAY: “HELP US SAVE OUR HOME”
A Romany Gypsy family who are fighting to stay on their Chorley site are holding a public meeting to explain their campaign and widen their support in the local community. Mike and Patty Linfoot, their three sons, and Patty’s parents have been living in their caravans on a site at Hut Lane, Heath Charnock, for four years. They own the land but Chorley council has refused to give them planning permission to live on it - even though the children are happily settled in local schools and Patty and Mike are active in the community. Most of the small site is screened by trees but the council upheld the objections to the site made by a small number of local residents and the council’s decision was backed by a planning inspector. Mike and Patty have been told to leave the site and they are appealing against the decision at the High Court in Manchester on November 7th. If this appeal fails, the council intends to apply for an injunction in March to evict the family from their home. Patty, who is a parent governor at a local primary school, said: “Our children are doing really well at their schools and they are very happy. We are determined to resist the council’s decision for the sake of the kids. This is their home. We have a lot of friends in the local community and we want to widen our campaign so they understand what is happening to us – and to show the council that there is a need for a site in Chorley, something which they have always denied.” The family’s campaign is being backed by the Manchester-based human rights organisation RAPAR which will be represented at the meeting on Thursday. As well as publicising the campaign in the community, Patty and Mike will also talk about the history of the Romany Gypsy community in the UK. For more information, please contact Kath Grant, RAPAR Press Officer Mobile: 07812471047 Email: [email protected] www.rapar.org.uk --- |
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