No Room at the Inn for Travellers

Here is the text of a letter I have sent today to our local newspaper - "The News". It will be interesting to see what reaction it gets!

A society is judged by how it treats those of its weaker members, is it not? I was therefore somewhat dismayed to read in Thursday's News that the City Council has decided that we do not have space for Travellers in our City.

If the question is one of space, I suggest that the derelict former Caravan Site, on the Eastern Road (next to the Harvester Restaurant) might be considered. It is distant from private housing, yet close to a school (Admiral Lord Nelson), and only a mile from the shops and junior school on Copnor Road. It was once used by Travellers, infact. But after their eviction, the entrance to the site was blocked with concrete, so that they could never return. It has been unused for about a decade.

I suspect, however, that the question is not about space. It feels like a political decision, taken by politicians who are fearful of an electorate who dismiss Travellers without a second thought. However, I want to suggest that Travellers have a long and proud tradition - which has much to offer to the rest of us. Yes, of course, there are some members of their community whose behaviour is less than desirable. But, as we all know, there are some members of the 'normal', house-living members of the general Portsmouth community whose behaviour is no better. Are we really going to say 'no room at the inn' to a whole group of people, just because some of their number misbehave? That's a dangerous precedent. Are we really saying to the innocent children of Traveller families that they are not welcome in our City? Shades of Bethlehem again.

Hearing how our politicians want to ban Travellers from our City, I was uncomfortably reminded of the action of certain totalitarian states of the past who declared "we don't want Jews, or black-people (or basically anyone who is not like us) to live here." I sincerely hope that you mis-quoted Gerald Vernon Jackson when you reported him as saying "we don't want traveller sites".

Travellers have many things to to teach our community - for example about the benefits of living a life that is not tied to a few clay bricks and some cement. In our current economic crisis, some of the people in my own parish are beginning to wish that they have not spent so much time, effort and money in 'building up treasure on earth'. Travellers also have an innate and vital sense of community, which some of our own 'normal' streets lack. I wonder, for example, how many of your paper's readers know the name of their next door neighbour...or the neighbour two doors away? Traveller communities know one another, and support one another, in a way that the rest of us only dream about.

I therefore urge the City Council to think again about how Travellers could be welcomed, and given a chance to contribute to our community, by giving them space and amenities on our Island. Unless we offer such people the chance to put down roots, to pay taxes and have their children schooled, they will always be forced to live on the edge of society. Do we really want to exclude a whole group of people, with their unique and precious history, from among us.

Who will be next I wonder?

Revd Tom Kennar
Team Rector: North End