Council postpones meeting with displaced Travellers following confusion over new home

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing needs. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney Council has postponed a private meeting with the borough’s displaced Travellers after it emerged that millions promised to them for a new pitch had slipped through the Town Hall’s grasp.

Councillors recently provoked fury from Traveller families when they admitted that the local authority no longer had control of £2 million in ring-fenced funding for a permanent site promised over a decade ago.

The community had been guaranteed a new “culturally suitable” piece of land by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), after being forcibly relocated for the 2012 Olympics.

At a cabinet meeting last month, housing services chief Cllr Clayeon McKenzie said the deadline to use the money had been missed, and the funding earmarked for the site was “now lost”.

“There still may be other funds that could replace it. Council officers are talking to the GLA [Greater London Authority] this week about possible grants to support Gypsy and Traveller pitches in the borough,” he said.

But Cllr Guy Nicholson later clarified that the money “[had] been re-allocated to the London Borough of Newham as the development that the funding is linked to is located in Newham.”

This meant it would still be used for the long-promised location, he added.

‘’Hackney Council remains committed to supporting the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. Despite the challenges, the council is in discussions with the GLA about an opportunity to apply for grant funding to support the delivery of a site in the borough,” he said.

Cllr McKenzie said he would arrange private meeting to members of the community to be held this week, which was initially agreed, but this has now been postponed to 22 January 2025 — sparking even more frustration from the community.

Nancy Hawker, policy officer at the non-profit London Gypsies and Travellers (LGT), said the Town Hall had given no reason for rescheduling.

When asked by the Citizen why it had been moved, a spokesperson for the council said: “The meeting has been postponed to allow more discussions to take place with the Greater London Authority and Newham to help shape a way forward.”

Philomena Mongan, an Irish Traveller who has lived in the borough for 35 years, had previously asked the Town Hall if she and others from the community could give a deputation on the matter at the last full council meeting on 27 November.

While this request was accepted by the council, in the end it was not scheduled.

On behalf of her and her neighbours, she told the Citizen: “We were ready to come as a deputation to the council meeting. The Travellers wanted to bring their teenage children so that they would experience what it’s like to engage with their councillors.

“When the day came, we were chatting on WhatsApp, everyone was excited, and I had to tell them it was cancelled, because our deputation wasn’t scheduled.

“They were so downhearted. They said, ‘That’s the council for you, they’ve let us down again’. These are women with families on the waiting list for a pitch, for years now.

“Then I told them there was a different meeting, and we would go to that. And then I had to tell them that this meeting was cancelled, too, and that the money wasn’t there anymore.

“They said, ‘[The council] doesn’t want to do anything for us’. That’s because there’s not much trust to start off with, and we prepare by organising ourselves and gathering the energy.

“There are many barriers, but we want to see this site delivered, for our children.”

Ahead of the 2012 Olympics, 20 Traveller families were forcibly removed from their licensed site on Waterden Road so the location could be redeveloped for the Games.

The community was rehoused by the council, but some families were broken up as a result, with 100 people split between three temporary sites.

A location on Bartrip Street near Victoria Park had been selected for a new pitch, but this plan was abandoned due to air pollution and noise concerns.

LGT last week told the Citizen it had been pressing Hackney Council, the Mayor of London and LLDC for updates.

Hawker added that, at an event marking last year’s Traveller History Month, councillors hinted that a new location had been found but could not yet be announced.

She said the group had been lobbying the council repeatedly to alert them ahead of the looming deadline to use the earmarked LLDC funding by 30 November this year.