Travellers facing camp eviction

Gypsies will be evicted from Crays Hill later this year

A council is a step closer to removing travellers from an illegal site in Essex.

There are about 200 travellers on the site at Crays Hill, next to a legal site which is home to 500 travellers.

Basildon Council wants to evict those on the illegal site but the decision is up for judicial review.

Communities minister Ruth Kelly has ruled that travellers are not entitled to retrospective planning permission at the site.

The council said: "There will be no question of the council taking direct action [to evict the travellers], at least until after a judicial review."

The judicial review is due to take place in November and comes after the travellers challenged Basildon Council's legal right to evict them.

The move comes just days after an announcement that more sites need to be created.

New planning policy

The region could have 1,200 new pitches for caravans after a review by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA).

It follows new government planning policy to address the current shortage of traveller sites.

The latest figures show that there are more than 4000 travellers' caravans in the East of England.

Of those, 60% are based on council sites or private sites, but the other 40% are living illegally.

Part of the problem dates back to 1994, when legislation took away the need for district councils to make provisions for travellers.

In 2004 the Deputy Prime Minister's Office decided councils must take responsibility for traveller sites.

Under the new rules, local authorities are responsible for developing plans and deciding on suitable locations for sites in their area but not necessarily for their provision.

The council can run them or the sites can be provided and owned by gypsies and travellers themselves.

Retrospective permission means that permission is granted after the work has started.