View report page

On the 9th January, 1963 another conference was held between the Middlesex
County Council and representatives of County Districts and since then the County
Council have investigated the possibility of finding a suitable piece of land for the
establishment of a caravan site in the north and west of the County and have held
discussions with officers of the County District. The County Council have stated that
from the County Planning Officer's initial investigation only three localities seemed
at all possible in the County but each of the authorities was of the opinion that there
was not sufficient problem to warrant the provision of an itinerant caravan site and
that there was no suitable site within the district concerned for that purpose. All the
officers of other authorities which might be said to be affected by itinerants expressed
the same view. Having regard to the views of the authorities concerned that there was
no suitable site and to the fluctuating numbers of caravanners in the County, the
County Planning Committee decided to take no further action to find a site until a
further survey had been carried out on a common date to be fixed by the Ministry.
The Ministry have expressed disappointment that the County Council did not propose
to take any action to provide a site but the County Planning Committee at a meeting
on the 5th December, 1963 considered the matter again and felt that it would be
unwise to provide a site in opposition to the wishes of local authorities. The Committee
decided to take no action to find a permanent site until a further survey on a date to
be fixed by the Ministry has been carried out.
Work of blocking off Council and privately owned sites in the Borough which
caravanners are apt to park on was started at the end of the year and is hoped to be
completed in 1964.
During the year it was suggested that Hayes & Harlington U.D.C. might share the
cost and services of the Borough Council's Gypsy Warden and an agreement to this
effect was reached whereby Hayes & Harlington pay three-sevenths of the total cost
of the warden's appointment and the warden spends an equivalent time carrying out
duties for the U.D.C. Often however a position is reached where the Council's warden
can do nothing to move gypsies. This is when they park on the highway or on lay-bys
which are part of the highway. Once the warden has towed the caravans off Corporation
or private land he has no authority to force them to move on as the matter is
then one for the police. The police in their turn are often in a difficult position in
these cases because although the offenders may be summoned for obstruction and
may neglect to pay their fines, if any warrant is executed and the occupier is sent to
prison for failure to pay fines then the wife and children of the caravan occupier are
left usually on a lay-by near the highway and the local authority and the gypsy warden
are still presented with the same problem. Some caravan dwellers have expressed the
opinion that they are as content to be summoned and brought before the Magistrates
in the Ealing area as they are to have it happen elsewhere, and it may be that they
regard the amount of fines which they have to pay as being in the nature of rent for
the part of the highway which they occupy.
SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS ACTS, 1933/1944
A licence to slaughter animals in accordance with the provisions of these Acts was
issued during the year to an officer of the R.S.P.C.A.
OFFICES, SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES ACT, 1963
This new Act received the Royal Assent in July 1963, and came as a result of the
Gowers Committee Report of 1949. The recommendations of that Report were only
partially enacted in the Offices Act of 1960, which was a private members' bill. This
36