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Successful committal of a gypsy for breach of a pre-emptive injunction granted in 2007. Application to vary injunction resisted. A pre-emptive injunction was granted against persons unknown preventing the stationing of gypsy caravans in 2007. The defendant, a gypsy who knew about the existence of the injunction but who claimed that he could not read it, stationed caravans on the land over the August bank holiday weekend and immediately applied for planning permission. There was a significant unmet need for gypsy pitches in the borough. When the local planning authority made a committal application the defendant applied to have the injunction varied. He then left the site, taking his children with him. This somewhat undermining his claim that it was necessary to allow him to remain on the site in order not to violate his A8 rights etc. The judge refused to vary the injunction, attaching weight to the fact that the defendant’s development was intentional unauthorised development in the Green Belt. He imposed a suspended sentence of imprisonment. Richard Langham appeared for the local planning authority.
