Gypsy family to be booted out of their caravan homes
Published on 23/08/2007
A GYPSY family facing eviction from caravans on land they own near Carlisle are pleading to be allowed to stay.
Peter and Lorraine Carrigan were last week refused planning consent for two caravans on the land next to Newtown Farm at Blackford.
The couple and their six children moved there in April because their previous home, a chalet at Hadrian’s Park gypsy site, was too small.
Carlisle city councillors are likely to order action to remove the caravans next month. That will make the family homeless.
Mrs Carrigan, 31, said: “They will have to drag us off. Then we’re going to have to live on the side of the road.
“All the council wants is to shove us on a site out of sight and out of mind but they can’t even do that for us.”
Five of the children, aged five to 13, attend or have attended Houghton School. The youngest, four-year-old Isaac, starts in September.
Mrs Carrigan says they will have to leave the school if the family is evicted.
That would be a bitter blow as three of the youngsters have hearing difficulties, yet have thrived at Houghton.
School staff and a specialist advisory teacher from the education authority sent letters in support of the Carrigans’ planning application.
Headteacher Lisa Bird wrote: “The whole family are a delight to have in the school.”
The Carrigans were first refused planning permission last year on the grounds that their caravans would “represent a discordant feature to the detriment of the rural character of the area”.
They appealed but the council’s decision was upheld by a government inspector.
The family reapplied this May after putting up a fence to screen the caravans and were led to believe they would be allowed to stay temporarily.
But councillors meeting on Friday refused consent, although did give temporary permission to another gypsy family in a similar plight.
Their decision came despite a planning officer’s report warning that the children’s education would be disrupted and eviction could breach the Carrigans’ human rights.
Councillors argued that Mr Carrigan had failed to provide information on drainage, something he denies.
The planning application brought objections from four neighbours and Westlinton parish council, which argued the caravans would “have an adverse effect on the character of Newtown” and be “detrimental to adjacent property”.
Mrs Carrigan believes some of the objectors are motivated by prejudice.
She said: “We’ve never had a bad word with any of them but they have a problem with us because we’re gypsies.”
There are two gypsy sites in the Carlisle area, Hadrian’s Park and Ghyll Bank.
There is a shortage of space at Hadrian’s Park and Mr Carrigan says Ghyll Bank is unsuitable for children and cannot accommodate his wagon and 15 horses.
A GYPSY family facing eviction from caravans on land they own near Carlisle are pleading to be allowed to stay.
Peter and Lorraine Carrigan were last week refused planning consent for two caravans on the land next to Newtown Farm at Blackford.
The couple and their six children moved there in April because their previous home, a chalet at Hadrian’s Park gypsy site, was too small.
Carlisle city councillors are likely to order action to remove the caravans next month. That will make the family homeless.
Mrs Carrigan, 31, said: “They will have to drag us off. Then we’re going to have to live on the side of the road.
“All the council wants is to shove us on a site out of sight and out of mind but they can’t even do that for us.”
Five of the children, aged five to 13, attend or have attended Houghton School. The youngest, four-year-old Isaac, starts in September.
Mrs Carrigan says they will have to leave the school if the family is evicted.
That would be a bitter blow as three of the youngsters have hearing difficulties, yet have thrived at Houghton.
School staff and a specialist advisory teacher from the education authority sent letters in support of the Carrigans’ planning application.
Headteacher Lisa Bird wrote: “The whole family are a delight to have in the school.”
The Carrigans were first refused planning permission last year on the grounds that their caravans would “represent a discordant feature to the detriment of the rural character of the area”.
They appealed but the council’s decision was upheld by a government inspector.
The family reapplied this May after putting up a fence to screen the caravans and were led to believe they would be allowed to stay temporarily.
But councillors meeting on Friday refused consent, although did give temporary permission to another gypsy family in a similar plight.
Their decision came despite a planning officer’s report warning that the children’s education would be disrupted and eviction could breach the Carrigans’ human rights.
Councillors argued that Mr Carrigan had failed to provide information on drainage, something he denies.
The planning application brought objections from four neighbours and Westlinton parish council, which argued the caravans would “have an adverse effect on the character of Newtown” and be “detrimental to adjacent property”.
Mrs Carrigan believes some of the objectors are motivated by prejudice.
She said: “We’ve never had a bad word with any of them but they have a problem with us because we’re gypsies.”
There are two gypsy sites in the Carlisle area, Hadrian’s Park and Ghyll Bank.
There is a shortage of space at Hadrian’s Park and Mr Carrigan says Ghyll Bank is unsuitable for children and cannot accommodate his wagon and 15 horses.
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