The site near Constable House in Adelaide Road

THE community of Gypsies and Travellers living in Camden say they feel “worthless” as every site suggested for pitches is either too small or hit by objections.

By law, Camden must provide space in the borough but a Local Plan has led to one suggested site after another being rejected.

The New Journal reported in January that a location in Kentish Town had been raised but was quickly withdrawn as a possibility.

Nine of the eleven sites have been withdrawn, leaving just two on the council list: one at Freight Lane near York Way and another on land east of Constable House at the bottom of Adelaide Road.

The latter would only be suitable for three pitches.

But even before the Traveller community has had a chance to say whether it’s big enough begins, posters have been put up on the bridge leading to Primrose Hill calling on residents to respond to the consultation period, which ended last week, and a raft of objections has emerged.

“Not a single site has been built since 1996. If Camden does go ahead with the two proposed sites they would be leading the way in terms of inclusivity for the Gypsy and Traveller community,” said Nancy Hawker policy and research officer at London Gypsies and Travellers.

“Many Traveller families are living in bricks and mortar which is not culturally suitable for them. Each time there is a planning proposal for a Gypsy or Traveller site the number of objections is disproportionate.

“The council has to sift through the objections and discount the ones that are purely based on prejudice and aren’t based on any planning grounds.”

Objections have risen to the Adelaide Road site

She added: “There is a lot of ignorance unless people have actually encountered Gypsies and Travellers. It is a very small minority, they are generally quite discreet and people get their impressions from tabloid news.”

There are currently two sites for Gypsies and Travellers in Camden: in Castlehaven Road and Carol Street.

Maggie Maughan moved to the Carol Street site in 1988.

Her father was from Mayo and her mother from Galway, Ireland.

She said: “When there are objections like this to a site it’s terrible. People deserve to have a place to live. You feel let down, you feel worthless.”

Ms Maughan’s daughter told the New Journal: “Look at the area where they found a piece of land – Primrose Hill where there is plenty of generational wealth – they’re not going to want Travellers around them.

“They’re doing it on purpose, finding areas where they know we won’t be able to go.

“It’s our tradition to raise our kids altogether – the saying goes it takes a village to raise a child. And it’s hard when you’re living isolated on your own. It’s causing depression and anxiety and younger women that do have children feel very isolated and alone.”

Martin Power with his late father Johnny

Marcus Wattam, on behalf of Adelaide Road Tenants Association objected to the Constable House site, on the grounds it would be a loss of an open space for residents and a harm to privacy.

“The site is immediately and heavily overlooked by the multi-storey residential blocks of Constable House and adjacent buildings,” said the objection, adding: “The resulting conditions would undermine privacy for both existing residents and potential site occupants.”

There have also been objections from Park Aspen, a group who represent residents and leaseholders in Eton Place, a block of flats just off Eton College Road.

A spokesperson for Park Aspen said: “Correspondence sent last week reflected comments and requests made by flat owners to us and as their agents we sought to assist them.

“However we’d rather see nothing built there for or by anyone as there would be a loss of green space and play area for the community.”

There have been some concerns even within the Traveller community that the patch of land near Constable House is too small with only three pitches and that Camden is not going to meet its requirements.

But champion boxer Martin Power, who grew up on the Castlehaven Traveller site, said the objections to every suggested area was upsetting.

His father Johnny Power, who passed away 10 years ago, was a community activist for the Traveller and Gypsy community, attending early meetings with the council in the 1990s giving a voice to the minority group.

“It’s frustrating,” said Mr Power.

“People don’t understand Travellers, if people were to sit down and have a conversation with us for an hour or so I reckon 99 per cent of people would walk away thinking that is a really lovely person. It feels as a group we are being penalised, and it’s not right.”

As a boxer Mr Power represented England on numerous occasions and trained at St Pancras boxing club.

“I’m in a flat and I feel suffocated,” he said.

“On a site you walk out into a communal space and you feel at home. It’s massively impactful on our mental health to not live where we belong.”

Councillor Adam Harrison, deputy leader and Camden’s environ­ment chief, said: “We recently finished consulting on the draft Local Plan, which is the Council’s main planning document. This plan guides where different types of new buildings, like offices or housing, might be suitable in principle, but it does not make final decisions about specific developments.

“National policy requires councils to identify sites through their Local Plans where Gypsies’ and Travellers’ homes could go. An actual decision on whether homes would go here would need to follow the usual planning application process, which is a separate process to the one currently in train. If planning permission was eventually granted, these would likely be single-storey permanent dwellings.”