Thanet council has today (September 6) been granted an order for removal to be served to a Travellers group at a Ramsgate seafront car park.
The group has been at the site at the eastern undercliff site since August 27. They were given a court summons for the order proceedings by police on Monday.
However, it will not be served yet as there are currently welfare concerns.
A Thanet council spokesman said: “We are aware of the travellers at Ramsgate Marina Esplanade. A summons to court was served on Monday. We applied for a hearing at court to request an Order and today secured that order. This will be served when we have no further concerns for the welfare of this group.”
The total number of unauthorised camps in Thanet this year is above 40. There have been calls for an authorised camp to be considered for the isle and the idea of Negotiated Stopping – a contract between mobile Travellers and councils that allow the Travellers to camp for up to three months on specified areas of vacant council land – has also been raised.
The Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) group has called on the Housing Minister to address the chronic national shortage of Gypsy and Traveller sites and available stopping places in the UK. The group’s research shows there has been only been a 2% increase in socially rented pitches available between 2010 and 2017.
