A group of Travellers have won a landmark court case against a local authority to stay on a park-and-ride car park they were wrongly ordered to leave.

Medway Council had tried to turf out the Romani Gypsy families who had set up home on the Wigmore Coach Park, off the M2.

Canterbury County Court heard in February how the group of fifteen adults and fourteen children were moved to the site, which had previously operated as a park-and ride facility up until the pandemic, by the local authority in July 2023.

It came after they had originally pitched up at Laburnum Road Recreation Ground in Strood, and council officers discovered some members were “heavily pregnant” and others suffering from “serious health conditions”.

They were granted permission to stay at Wigmore for three months under the condition they paid a weekly licence fee of £285.

But in October, the council issued them a notice to leave the site despite the group insisting they had kept to “all the rules”. When they did not leave, a possession order for the land was issued at the end of the year.

Now, a judge has ruled the local authority had interfered with their human rights by trying to evict them from the land.

Medway Council claimed to the court its reason for issuing the possession order was that it had planned to sell the land in the “near future” in a bid to address ongoing funding issues.

But on the first day of the hearing, it was revealed no steps had been taken to sell it.

It also accepted it had not set pitch targets which make “satisfactory provision” for gypsy and traveller sites, of which there is a chronic shortage nationally, as it does not have a local plan in place.

Some members of the group impacted reported having their names on waiting lists for 10 various Traveller sites over the last decade.

Speaking to KentOnline Tina Herring, who lives at the site, said: “I think that it's down to the council and the government to supply permanent places for each and every one who needs them and to not just keep moving us around because they're not going to solve the problem, are they?

“Instead, they should just automatically get their heads together and say, ‘We need places for these people to let them have a normal life’.

“They just push it on from one county to another, and no one wants to deal with you.

“It's a vicious circle going round and round and round.”

On the attempts to remove them, she added: “When we got the lease for this, it [the condition] was to keep things tidy, which we do anyway. We don't need to be told that.

“‘No anti-social behaviour’ — we have no problems with the police. ‘No work, no fires, keep all these rules, and then we'll probably give you a longer lease’.

“We've obeyed all the rules.”

A solicitor acting for some of the family group members described the court win as the first of its kind in a decade.

In response, Medway Council said it was deciding “how best to move forward”.

Portfolio holder for housing and homelessness Cllr Louwella Prenter said: “We are disappointed with the county court judgement not to grant possession of the former Wigmore commuter car park in Maidstone Road, back to Medway Council.

“This is a lengthy and detailed decision, and we will give it due consideration before deciding how best to move forward.

“Granting use of the site was only ever intended as a temporary three-month measure, and the car park is not deemed to be suitable as a long-term site for permanent occupation.”

A previous investigation by KentOnline revealed many local authorities in Kent are still not meeting the accommodation needs of the Travelling community despite it being a legal requirement.

After legislation was introduced allowing local authorities to evict, fine or arrest travellers setting up unauthorised encampments, members are often left being moved from roadside to roadside.

Marie Conde, another member of the group, likened living there with the looming threat of eviction to a state of limbo.

She said: “You could never plan to make a Sunday roast because you knew you'd get a move.

“You could never plan to take the kids out for a day because you couldn't go and leave the place.”

Tina added: “Everybody thinks this life is beautiful — it is, to an extent, but you can't lie your head down at night.

“You never know when that petrol bomb is going to be thrown at you.

“They've got to stand up and meet our needs instead of keep pushing us on.”

Councillor Satinder Shokar (Lab) has been a huge supporter of the minority group, advocating for their rights and for them to stay where possible.

At the hearing, he provided witness statements for the families.

Speaking on the judgment, he said: “I was over the moon, as was everyone else involved in the case.

“This family has been fighting for decades against injustices, and to finally have something go in their favour has meant so much.

“Their community is very much under threat and has been persecuted by governments and local councils.

“It's important that we protect them and their way of life, and the councils can easily do this if they wish. However, due to systemic discrimination, we are still a long way off.”

Though the courts have sided with the group, they do not have a permanent right to stay at the site, and in the judgment it was said circumstances “may shift the balance in favour of eviction”.

But, the group have applied for planning permission to turn the park and ride in Maidstone Road, near Bredhurst, into an official Traveller site.

It had previously been used by people who commute to London on the Kings Ferry coach services.

An initial application was submitted last May but was refused just two months later. An appeal was made at the beginning of this year - a hearing for it will take place next Wednesday (May 28).

It’s a decision the group will be “praying” also ends in their favour.

With no permanent place to stay, members of the group have no postcode, and as a result, no access to fundamental rights like healthcare and education.

Tina said: “We're speaking for the children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren and children to come.

“They do need their schooling. They do need regular health checks from a doctor.”

She added: “Please, people, accept us - we've been here long enough.

“When are you going to accept us, and as human beings?

“I don't want to hurt anybody by saying that, but we need to be accepted into society as equals.”