Basildon Leader calls for British Bill of Rights to help authorities against "manipulation of Euro human rights legislation"

The Leader of Basildon Council has called for a British Bill of Rights as “this would surely help local authorities in the face of opponents ready to manipulate Euro human rights legislation”.

Writing on the Conservative Home website about the points for Conservatives to draw from the Dale Farm experience, Cllr Tony Ball warned: “Do not underestimate the ability of protest groups to find obscure legal routes to challenge the local authority.”

He added: “The start of the clearance operation on 19 September was derailed under a legal challenge brought by a travellers’ representative in a court where Basildon Council was not even allowed to put its side.”

Cllr Ball also argued that:

• Localism was needed more than ever. “Clear support for the clearance from Basildon’s residents – demonstrated by successive election victories – has surely given us the mandate to proceed with this action. The Localism Bill provides for local referenda to reinforce this democratic will even further”
• It was essential to keep explaining to residents “that you are on their side and understand their deep frustration”. He claimed some Crays Hill residents were so angry that they had threatened not to pay their council tax. “I don't believe the council is their real target; they are simply at their wits' end with a system that seems to condone law breaking. You need to keep your own people on side”
• It is also important to keep explaining to the media and the wider world why what the council is doing is fair. “The traveller lobby have sought to turn this issue into a fundamental row over lifestyle choice. It isn’t; it’s a planning row. Don’t allow your opponents to claim the seductive moral higher ground.”

Basildon’s Leader admitted that despite all the planning that had gone into the eviction process, the last fortnight had been “a steep learning curve”.

Cllr Ball added that it was important to bring the council’s experiences to a wider audience because Dale Farm was not just a Basildon issue – “It is about upholding the law that governs us all and protects the environment.”

He insisted that he had no dispute with the traveller community, pointing out that Basildon provided more pitches than any area in the east of England and “almost more than anywhere in the country”.

“What I do take exception to is the lack of respect among some of the travellers and their self-appointed champions for the law,” Basildon’s Leader said. “As Conservatives, we respect the rule of law built up in this country over centuries of precedent. We sign up to all of it, rather than a ‘pick and mix’ approach to those parts of living in the UK that personally suit our agenda.”

Cllr Ball also criticised the travellers for adopting the language of industrial relations disputes. “I am exhorted to ‘get back round the table’ and allow a ‘common sense’ settlement,” he said. “No mention of the fact that the travellers could have come to our negotiating table any time in the last ten years to agree a settlement to this dispute. The travellers have knowingly broken the law; they are not striking for a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”

Expressing the hope that this would all ultimately prove to be “a noisy sideshow”, Cllr Ball said Basildon believed that it was entering the end game and that “while the wheels of justice may grind slow, they are grinding forward”.

He admitted that the confrontation had diverted “substantial resources” that could have been spent elsewhere and had been “a huge drain on officer time”.

“I hope, even at this late stage, the travellers will leave peacefully,” he said. “But if not, then we are determined that this clearance will go ahead. It is what local people want and, if localism is really to have teeth, then their will should be done.”

Mr Justice Ouseley is expected to hand down his judgment in the two outstanding reviews on Wednesday (12 October).