Villagers win first battle in gypsy war (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Villagers win first battle in gypsy war

MINETY residents have won the first battle in their fight to rid their village of a gypsy camp.

Planners at North Wiltshire District Council threw out the travellers' application on Wednesday night to keep their camp in the village.

The site was built over the course of a weekend last summer and was likened by one councillor to a "military manoeuvre."

The camp, on the B4040 leading out of Minety towards Cricklade was refused retrospective permission as it was too close to the main road, and "would have a seriously detrimental effect on the visual character."

The decision followed a barrage of criticism of the gypsies, around a dozen of whom attended Wednesday's meeting, by councillors and Minety villagers.

Verina Hyland, who lives next to the camp told the meeting about villagers who "had their lives destroyed by this invasion, with fellow villager Tony Reeves said that "the (gypsy) site had had a catastrophic effect on property prices" and claimed that they had dropped by between ten and 35 per cent.

Maggie Smith Bendall, of the Romany Gypsy Council, fiercely defended the actions of the gypsies, and rejected complaints made during the meeting about their behaviour.

She said: "I strongly object that there are dogs barking all day and all night, and there are no dogs attacking any horses or livestock- we would like that proved."

Attempts by the district council to remove the gypsies by court action stalled after the judge ruled that the planning application should be heard first, which includes any appeals by the travellers against the ruling.

Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Bendall said: "We will most certainly appeal- it could go on for years, but the British Romany Gypsy Council never gives in without a fight.

"The Minety gypsies will stay on that site right until the end, because there is nowhere else for them to go.

"If the council had built us transit camps, we could have stayed there for four to six months while we negotiated things."