John Baron Urges Council to Appeal Against Judge's Ruling

Commenting on today’s High Court decision to uphold the Judicial Review on behalf of the travellers at Dale Farm, Crays Hill, John said:

“This is very disappointing. The judge seemed to focus on the fact the travellers had no where else to go and that individual needs were not taken into account. To me this sends out the wrong signal and gives a green light for travellers to concrete over our greenbelt with immunity.”

“The only positive to come out of this judgment was that the Human Rights accusations against the Council were not upheld. The Council has also been given leave to appeal against this ridiculous decision, which I am encouraging it to do immediately.

“This whole episode shows that the planning and legal system at present discriminates against the law-abiding majority. The law needs to be changed, and a twin track approach adopted which would give Councils much stronger powers whilst also sharing more the responsibility to provide authorised sites. I tried to introduce this measure in my Greenbelt Protection Bill back in 2003, but it was opposed by the government.”