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A traveller who was ordered to leave a field after buying it, tarmacking over it and moving in caravans and a mobile home, can live there for now because moving him would breach his human rights.
Miles Martin Connors, 45, and his family caused chaos when they descended on the picturesque village of Sundridge in Kent over the Easter weekend.
In a military-style ‘land grab’, up to 25 lorries arrived on Good Friday with tonnes of rubble and tipped it onto the one-acre field.
Then, using diggers and machinery, they converted the green space into a hardstand caravan site.
But their plans came to a temporary halt on Easter Sunday, when their three-bedroom static caravan loaded onto a lorry became became stuck in the country lane close to the field.
Infuriated locals, who were protesting the work, were left incredulous when one of their number – rather than the traveller – was arrested by police.
Now bosses at Sevenoaks District Council have served an enforcement notice on Mr Connors ordering him to return the land to its previous condition.
However, under the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act, Mr Connors, his wife and their three children have been told they will be allowed to live there temporarily.
Mr Connors, who owns the field which he bought at auction for £167,000 last October, has been told that he can live there for 56 days until June 2.
Under the Temporary Stop Notice (TSN) he has an exemption which allows him stay for eight weeks.
They will be allowed to continue living there using only two of the four vehicles presently on the site.
The TSN also prevents him carrying out any further engineering works or development on the land and forbids him from connecting to utilities such as water and electricity.
Under the Enforcement Notice, Mr Connors has been told he has to remove all hardcore rubble, caravans and other vehicles and return the field to its original condition by August 10.
He has also been ordered to remove the hardcore and re-seed the field with a wild meadow grass mix by that date.
Last night one villager said: ‘It’s absolutely typical that travellers who show little regard for the human rights of law-abiding residents use the Human Rights Act to play the system.
‘It’s preposterous. Everyone is angry but local authorities seem powerless as the law is on their side.’
Another angry resident said: ‘We’ve seen very similar cases all across the country and councils never manage to enforce the planning rules.
‘Instead they get caught up in a protracted legal battle which ends with travellers getting their own way.
‘I’m sick to death of it. Why should we heed the rules only for a bunch of anti-social people to ruin the countryside we live in.’
Another said: ‘The law is an ass and until it is changed them people like us will always suffer.’
Laura Trott, MP for Sevenoaks and shadow education secretary, said: ‘As I have mentioned before, the only way to effectively deal with unauthorised developments once and for all is to change the law, which would prevent retrospective planning applications being lodged in cases where the unauthorised development has been carried out.
‘I have therefore written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government asking for a meeting, and have invited him to Sevenoaks to see the impact such developments are having on the community.
‘I will continue to work with everyone to tackle this problem. The status quo must not continue.’
Kent Police faced accusations of ‘aiding and abetting’ the travellers ‘land grab’ by helping them move the lorry and static home onto the site.
One said resident said: ‘The police didn’t do a good job at all, they were almost escorting the whole thing.
‘There were people with chain saws on top of vans chopping down branches so they could get through – it was all a real mess.
‘We all have to abide by planning laws and regulations wherever we are, so for someone just to rush over all of that is not right.’
A spokesman for Sevenoaks District Council said: ‘Following concerns raised by local residents, we have visited the site on several occasions.
‘We can confirm there are no additional caravans or mobile homes on site. Plant and hardcore was being removed, which was welcomed. There has been no additional development on the site since the TSN was served.
‘The site is in the Green Belt and the Kent Downs National Landscape. The trees on site are not protected with a Tree Preservation Order.
‘With the TSN and Enforcement Notice in place, we can now undertake a robust assessment of the impact of the unauthorised use and works and consider the potential harm to biodiversity and the public highway.’
James Evans, the son of parish council chairman, John Evans, was arrested at the site on suspicion of obstructing a police officer and later released pending an investigation.
Superintendent Elena Hall of Kent Police said: ‘I recognise the strength of feeling in the Sundridge community where an HGV transporting a static caravan became blocked in New Road.
‘There has been some confusion around the purpose of our attendance, and the role and legal powers of the police in matters like this. To set the record straight, it wasn’t to facilitate access for the HGV or for any other reasons other than to clear the road, having received complaints that the road was blocked.
‘Matters concerning private land ownership and access is a civil matter, and not something the police have powers in regard to, although we work with and support partner agencies who do when requested.’
