TRAVELLERS TO BE EVICTED THIS WEEK
Rye’s Own April 2008 Supplement
The Motor Home and four Caravans will be removed from the Town Salts this week according to sources close to Rother District Council who are responsible for Rye’s playing fields. An eviction notice was presented last Tuesday and will be enforced by a bailiff before the end of this week.
Local people are asking if the travellers, who are all in possession of 07 and 08 cars, will be made to pay for their occupation of the Salts, damage repairs to the ground, rubbish removal and court costs? A local builder told me that he is paying £3 a day to park in Gibbets Marsh. He is working on a nearby house. If I have to pay why should they get off free. My tax bill is paid annually, do they pay tax?
A well known Bonfire Boy will be angry if the travellers are not made to pay for the damage to the Salts. He claims that the council ground keeper has had to mow around the caravans and the grass underneath has gone yellow. We have to pay several hundred pounds for repairs to the ground where the bonfire stands, why should they get away scott free?
Two Rye ladies I spoke to in the High Street were wanting to know if the travellers would have to pay for rubbish removal. “Our Council Tax is bad enough already, why should we be paying to remove theirs?” One gentleman who joined the discussion wanted to know why, if they had the cheek to park themselves on Rye Town Salts, did the authorities not lock them in and use the situation to their advantage by having them investigated by the police. “After all” he said “They have expensive cars and no visible means of support, questions should be asked”.
One person disagreed saying “It was a shame, that in this day and age travellers were not accepted, when I was a girl the local farmers were pleased to welcome them on their ground at harvest time, many came every year and were made welcome by the local community.”
It seems though, that this group of travellers have upset most of the locals by parking so close to the town. The fact that they have been hanging out their washing over the children’s playground fence has angered many. The general consensus is, why should we have to pay for parking and rubbish collection but watch travellers stick their fingers up at the District Council and the law.
An official small ’emergency’ site for travellers on Council owned ground in Winchelsea Road has been pinpointed by ESCC for three caravans. There has been a public outcry about this which will surely be exacerbated by the actions taken by the group who have parked on the Fair Salts.
Rye’s Own April 2008 Supplement