Displaced Travellers dejected after setback in struggle for long-promised pitch

Philomena Mongan delivers the Travellers’ deputation. Image: Hackney Council

Hackney’s Travellers have been dealt a blow after the council confirmed its long-awaited plans to provide a new site had gone back to the drawing board.

Twenty Traveller families have endured years of delays over a plot of land that was guaranteed to them after they were displaced from their licensed communal living site ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

After trying unsuccessfully to voice her and others’ concerns over the site’s delivery to the council last year, Irish Traveller Philomena Mongan gave a deputation to the cabinet on Monday, but left feeling “very downhearted”.

“We’re not looking for a big fancy piece of land with big green fields,” she said.

“We would appreciate built-up areas if that’s the only site left and look upon it as a piece of land [where] we can put a community together.”

She added that her son had been on a waiting list for a pitch for more than 20 years, during which time he had lived mainly in temporary accommodation.

Late last year, members and representatives of the community told the Citizen they had warned the council repeatedly that the deadline was looming for the local authority to use the millions of pounds promised for the new site.

Funding from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) in 2019 had allocated £2 million for a new “culturally suitable” location on Bartrip Street, but this was ruled out by Hackney Council due to the levels of noise and air pollution.

Had it been completed, it would have fit ten pitches, accommodating only half of the families on the allocation waiting list.

The original plan stipulated that a location be found by the end of November 2024, after which the planning powers would revert to the area’s four local authorities on 1 December.

Despite numerous attempts to force action from the council, the funding was declared as “lost” last year by the borough’s housing chief Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, stoking controversy and confusion.

Cllr Guy Nicholson later assured that the Town Hall was talking to the Greater London Authority about the possibility of more grant funding for the site.

Ms Mongan’s deputation, which she had hoped to give before the November deadline, stated: “The council has a legal obligation not to discriminate and make people homeless, and yet Hackney has lost two million pounds from the LLDC on the 30 November last year. This was a very big disappointment for us.”

As other members of her community, who themselves had been waiting more than two decades, watched from the chamber gallery, she appealed to the cabinet that their culture was in grave threat without a site.

“Madam Mayor, honourable councillors: can Hackney’s housing, land and planning departments ensure that the promised site will be on a path to construction in your term?”

On Monday, Cllr McKenzie confirmed that the development scheme for the site was now tied to the London Borough of Newham and the council “could not commit” to its delivery.

“We are in discussion with [Newham] and officers regarding the funding, and have also explored alternative site options, but unfortunately none have been identified so far,” he said.

“I recognise this is disappointing. However, while this is our position currently, I’m keen that we keep this ongoing conversation.

“We as a council will do everything in our power to minimise discrimination that our communities feel and we will continue to explore options to improve the health and options available to you.”

Culture chief Cllr Chris Kennedy asked if the community would be content to see the Bartrip site kept in the council’s local plan, as the strides Hackney is making in air quality should see the deputation improve making it an option in future.

Nancy Hawker, policy officer at London Gypsies and Travellers (LGT), said: “If the pollution goes away it would be fine, but we can’t really wait for that.”

LGT is a non-profit supporting social inclusion for the minority ethnic groups.

Ms Hawker later told the Citizen it would be “very difficult” to convince the Travellers to come back to trust and engage with the council on any community issues.

“The whole ‘we are an anti-racist borough’ sounds very hollow. It’s as if those using that cliché haven’t quite understood what indirect discrimination is, or that being anti-racist requires taking action to rectify structural discrimination,” she said.

The Citizen understands that following last night’s meeting, Cllr McKenzie advised that the community take the matter up with the Mayor of Newham.

“We recommended to him that Hackney escalate its own communications with Newham,” Ms Hawker said.