Protest Action Outside Solihull Council Offices at 1pm today

Protest Action Outside Solihull Council Offices at 1pm today

Despite the the strongest level of Refusal by the Secretary of State following the Appeal by Travellers over the illegal Gypsy Site at Eaves Green Lane in Meriden Solihull Council have taken NO ACTION to ENFORCE this decision and the resident Travellers are taking a line similar to that at Dale Farm to STAY PUT while Council Officials sit on their hands.
Residents are calling for our Council to take action and are making a formal protest outside Solihull Council Offices Today at 1.00pm Calling for "Action Now"
Any members or supporters Free to do so can support this legitimate protest action simply by turning up and calling for our Council to carry out its legal duties to take action under the planning enforcement powers it has following the extended Public Inquiry that has now dealt with all the outstanding issues and given the Travellers every opportunity to present their case within the law.
We are not calling for these Travellers who have been ensconced for 20 months already to be evicted immediately but that action is set in train for them to be moved off in a reasonable time frame early in the New Year.
Failure to act promptly will lead to costly and extended litigation and confrontation that will bring no credit to our local authority and the costs will be picked up by Solihull's long suffering Council Taxpayers.
Tuesday is also the Full Council Meeting held in public and Starting at 5.30pm in the Council Chamber at the Civic Suite.

For further details see the Meriden RAID site at

500 Days not out! Middle England stands up for itself



Nikki's Ad Van with her poster in support of the people of Meriden



Eurosceptic MEP pays tribute to Middle England Activists

West Midlands Independent MEP, Nikki Sinclaire, has paid tribute to the residents of Meriden, the ´centre of England´ for their tenacity and activism in standing up to unlawful development on the Green Belt by travellers.

Residents have been manning a 24/7 protest camp for 500 days (Tuesday 13th Sept) and are awaiting a decision on a public enquiry from Secretary of State, Eric Pickles MP, due later this month.

Nikki being interviewed by Mercia FM



Ms. Sinclaire has been very active in the Campaign with many visits to the Camp over the last year or so including many late nights. Ms. Sinclaire has slammed the EU and the ECHR and the resulting Human Rights culture that has caused such misery to law abiding citizens.

New Labour and John Prescott were keen to adopt this culture that gave rise the his Circular of 2006 that allowed travellers to develop on Green belt land giving them special rights over ordinary citizens.



Ms. Sinclaire said "This is middle England at last standing up for itself, woe betide any government that does not listen to these people - their actions over the past year have restored my faith in grass roots politics and activism, when ordinary people speak, politicians should listen"

She also went on to call for David Cameron not to play abut with words an follow through on the Conservative Party's manifesto commitment to repel the Human Rights Act saying "If every Tory MP voted for this I am sure the rest of the necessary votes could be gleaned from other parties" adding "our communities and society is paying a heavy price for the "EU Human Rights Culture".

Nikki will be present in Meriden for the 500 day activities

Prescot still causing trouble

Today I visited Barnacle, a small hamlet in Warwickshire. This village like Meridan has been a victim of innappropraite development by so called gypsies/travellers. The law abiding residents are victims of positive discrimination at the hands of europhile jurisprudence via its favorite vehicle, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

It was the ECHR that inspired former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott to issue circular 2006/1 to local authrorities across the country. This circular allows gypsies to develop property on protected Green Belt land. The coalition government have announced that it will revoke this guideline. That was a month ago and still nothing has been done. I have written to Eric Pickles demanding an explanation.

Earlier today  I met with villagers and their local MP, Mark Pawsey and together we delivered letters of protest to the Deputy Leader of Rugby Council.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/10/29/barnacle-villagers-step-up-fight-against-travellers-camp-92746-27566515/2/

Trains, Planes and change of schedule

One of the more frustrating elements of being an MEP is the travel and in particular the need for flexibility due to last minute changes of plan. Today is a good example. I left home at 7.15am to catch a train to London to support constituents from Barnacle, Coventry at the High Court in London in their attempt to obtain a permanent injunction against inappropriate development in their community by gypsies. I decided to not attend Brussels today to support them. Just as the train pulled away from Birmingham International I got a phone call informing me that the matter had been adjourned. I got off the train in Coventry and waited for the next train back to Birmingham.

I spent the morning in my office going through constituency matters including writing to Local Communities Minister, Eric Pickles demanding that he revoke John Prescott's circular 2006/01 that has allowed gypsies to destroy Green Belt land.

I then re-arranged my flight so I could get to Brussels for the plenary session.

Middle England protest in Strasbourg

This week I sponsored over 30 residents from Meriden (The middle of England) to visit and protest and the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Both the BBC and ITV filmed the protest.

These people were victims of discrimination and have suffered since early May this year when their lives were disrupted by an inappropriate development on protected Green Belt land by travellers.

Thanks to the EU, the ECHR and its jurisprudence the law in framed to the advantage of the travellers some of whom seem intent on abusing the system for profit.

As I constantly point out to social law loving Europhiles; positive discrimination is wrong, it is as wrong as any other form of discrimination and it also has victims.

These people from Meriden have stood up to this injustice and have held a continuous 24 hour manned camp to prevent any further damage to the Green Belt. These are ordinary law abiding people who it has been a privilege to get to know around the camp fire at all times of the day. Their dedication to their cause has renewed my faith in local direct politics.

They certainly frightened the European Parliament security that pedantically would not let them wear their t-shirts and caps (spelling out their protest) into the Parliament.   Eventually they got into the parliament.  Their message was simple 'Equal Rights not special rights'. We delivered a letter to President Jerzy Buzek and also to the ECHR.

You can also hear a radio interview prior to the trip here

http://yourmep.org/bbc-radio-wm-sep2010.html

Also a report on the protest by EU Reporter

http://www.eureporter.co.uk/story/protest-strasbourg