News and other Busyness

Patcham Travellers Face Eviction

Land now ear-marked for supermarket

Squall 15, Summer 1997, pg. 14.

Travellers at Patcham Court Farm face imminent eviction after a Bank Holiday weekend party was deemed a 'statutory nuisance' by Brighton Borough Council. The party apparently attracted 29 complaints from housedwellers after three sound systems set up on site.

The Patcham site was one of two unofficially tolerated sites taken to replace Waterhall which was cleared in January.

Many of the vehicles parked-up at the farm have now pulled on to near-by Braypool provoking fears of a knock-on eviction.

The Patcham eviction notice - delivered appropriately on April 1 - came as a number of Travellers on the farm were completing an application for lottery funding to turn the farm into a resource site.

The proposal, which included workshops for vehicle maintenance, wood-working, crafts and education, would have made full use of the outbuildings and hardstanding available at the council-owned site. The application has now been shelved and the farm is ear-marked for demolition as part of a park-and-ride scheme for a proposed Waitrose superstore.

RW