Dale Farm Travellers 'cut off in No Man's Land'

Happier days - the bulldozers destroyed this family's shrine

The television cameras have gone. But the majority of Irish Travellers who lived at Dale Farm in Essex have been left in a No Man's Land following their high profile eviction last month.

Some 32 of the 49 evicted families, have parked up on the pitches of those living on the adjacent permanent (legal) site. There are three dwellings remaining on the cleared site, which are protected by court order.

The council are now claiming there may be a breach of planning regulations and health and safety risks, which could force them to act to remove the extra vans from the legal sites.

The cleared area, which was home to the families for more than ten years, has been dug up with huge coffin shaped ditches and deep gullies, supposedly to stop any Travellers getting back on the site. This though does not help those living on the three remaining dwellings, as it has cut off gtheir access to the road and makes it very difficult for them to get in and out.

The remnants of the eviction include smashed Catholic statues of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady and other religious items.

Mother of four, Michelle Sheridan explained that Basildon Council cleared the site but there is nowhere for them to go at the moment. She said they are looking to get planning permission at a site that could provide 12 to 15 pitches at nearby Laindon but this is going to take time to complete. It also won't provide the space required for all the Travellers.

"The council are now saying we are overcrowding this legal site, so we need to get out and move on," said Mrs Sheridan. She described how the whole area is being regularly circled by a helicopter. "We are living in muck," she said.

The council offered a flat to Mrs Sheridan's parents but when they visited it, she found the attitude to Travellers from the neighbours was so hostile that she could not dream of allowing them to live there.

Sister Catherine Reily, who has been a regular visitor and supporter of the Traveller community for eight years, said she is appalled at what she has seen at the site. "This is all about getting people off the site. They are doing what they like to people without any respect for human life," said Sister Catherine.

Local resident, parishioner and justice and peace activist, Jo Campbell said she was "shocked and horrified that anyone could be left in such conditions."

"The feeling among the Travelling community of total rejection is palpable. There are people living on protected sites and those with site places to go cannot move, because the access road has been destroyed," said Mrs Campbell. She said she believes that since the media focus has moved away from the site, Basildon Council has felt free to do what it likes "I cannot get out of my mind that this is going on where I live."

Meanwhile, another Traveller at the site, Kathleen McCarthy has accepted substantial undisclosed damages over a national newspaper claim that she was facing a police investigation over allegations of slavery.

The allegation from the Sunday People arose around the time of the Dale Farm eviction, concerning activities at Todbury Farm, Bedfordshire, where Mrs McCarthy has relatives, The claims were found to be totally untrue.