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BBC News - Dale Farm: English Heritage bid to protect scaffolding gateway
Dale Farm: English Heritage bid to protect scaffolding gateway
Gantry entrance Residents have applied to English Heritage for protection of the entrance to the Dale farm site
Moves have been made to get listed status for a scaffolding structure at the gateway to the UK's largest illegal travellers' site.
For the past five years the gateway at Dale Farm near Basildon, in Essex, has carried posters and banners supporting residents' fight to stay on the site.
Campaigners have applied to English Heritage, saying it was an "emblem of a struggle for traveller rights".
They said the structure provided a defence against bailiffs moving in.
The clearance of Dale Farm had been due to begin last week.
However, an injunction preventing bailiffs moving in is currently in place while legal appeals are heard at the High Court.
The planned clearance follows a decade-long row over 51 unauthorised pitches on the six-acre travellers' site.
The next court hearing is due to be held on Thursday.
'Care about us'
Resident Kathleen McCarthy said: "We're here to fight for our rights to a normal family life, for our children to get an education and for us to have security for our homes.
"The tower is all that stands between ourselves and the bailiffs.
"As long as it remains standing, we know that there are people outside our community who still care about our rights."
English Heritage has not commented on the application.
However, its website said the organisation designated protected status to "celebrate England's historic buildings, monuments, parks, gardens, battlefields and wreck sites, by highlighting their special interest in a national context".
BBC News - Dale Farm: English Heritage bid to protect scaffolding gateway
Dale Farm: English Heritage bid to protect scaffolding gateway
Gantry entrance Residents have applied to English Heritage for protection of the entrance to the Dale farm site
Moves have been made to get listed status for a scaffolding structure at the gateway to the UK's largest illegal travellers' site.
For the past five years the gateway at Dale Farm near Basildon, in Essex, has carried posters and banners supporting residents' fight to stay on the site.
Campaigners have applied to English Heritage, saying it was an "emblem of a struggle for traveller rights".
They said the structure provided a defence against bailiffs moving in.
The clearance of Dale Farm had been due to begin last week.
However, an injunction preventing bailiffs moving in is currently in place while legal appeals are heard at the High Court.
The planned clearance follows a decade-long row over 51 unauthorised pitches on the six-acre travellers' site.
The next court hearing is due to be held on Thursday.
'Care about us'
Resident Kathleen McCarthy said: "We're here to fight for our rights to a normal family life, for our children to get an education and for us to have security for our homes.
"The tower is all that stands between ourselves and the bailiffs.
"As long as it remains standing, we know that there are people outside our community who still care about our rights."
English Heritage has not commented on the application.
However, its website said the organisation designated protected status to "celebrate England's historic buildings, monuments, parks, gardens, battlefields and wreck sites, by highlighting their special interest in a national context".
