Talks held over gypsy fair (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Talks held over gypsy fair

STOW-on-the-Wold's residents and traders have been called to a public meeting tonight (Thursday) to discuss the town's controversial gypsy horse fair.

It will be held at St Edward's Hall in the Square, from 7pm, to seek solutions to problems highlighted during May's fair when locals complained about some travellers' intimidating behaviour and litter strewn around the event's venue, a gypsy-owned field just into neighbouring Maugersbury parish.

Representatives of Gloucestershire County, Cotswold District and Stow Town councils will attend tonight's meeting.

The biannual fair has long caused controversy in Stow where many shopkeepers, fearing upsurges in vandalism and theft, often close their premises while it is held.

It is estimated shop closures during last month's fair cost Stow about £160,000-worth of trade.

In 1996, following complaints about rowdy behaviour among 400-plus caravans parked on the field, the district council obtained a court injunction preventing gypsies camping there before and after the fair.

Some 134 caravans parked on the Maugersbury Road field during last month's fair, compared to only 79 the previous May.

Stow Chamber of Commerce complained that the district council failed to enforce the injunction and that there was insufficient policing.

Gypsies claim the fair dates from a Royal Charter granted by King Edward IV, in 1476, allowing them to hold it two days either side of the church feasts of Saint Philip and St Jude on May 2 and King Edward the Confessor on October 13.

But Harvey Marshall, Stow's Lord of the Manor, says he is the only person the charter allows to hold the event. He is unconnected with the present fair.

A working group, assembled to resolve the problems, comprises representatives from the town, district, county and Maugersbury Parish councils, along with Maugersbury Residents Association, Stow police and the Gypsy Council for Education, Culture, Welfare and Civil Rights.

Councillor Tom Morris, who represents Stow council on the group, helped organise tonight's meeting.

He said: "There's a ground swell of opinion that something must be done to exercise greater control and running of the fair. "One of the questions that will come up will be the question of policing."