Council officials serve details of Dale Farm clearance plans

Council officials have served 48-hour notices detailing how they will remove homes from the UK’s largest illegal travellers’ site.

Despite a mass walk-out of travellers and supporters from Dale Farm, Essex, on Thursday, between 20 and 30 people spent the night inside the site.

Among them was mother-of-two Margaret Flynn, who is entitled to keep her caravan on the site, though the hard-standing beneath it will be removed.

She said: “We hardly slept last night, the kids just kept thinking about what had happened and how the police came into the site. I’m entitled to stay, but it is not home any more. It felt very lonely in here. My family slept on the legal side and I just want to be with them.”

Basildon Council officers, escorted by police and bailiffs, toured the site yesterday, placing notices on structures.

The notices inform residents what will be removed. This includes demolishing fences and walls to allow access, though these will be reinstated.

Some residents have asked bailiffs to remove their homes and one mobile home has already been placed inside the council compound.