PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Residents of the UK's largest illegal travellers' site are to launch their latest legal battle against eviction.
They are returning to the High Court seeking a ruling that it would be "disproportionate and unlawful" and a breach of their human rights to clear them from Dale Farm near Basildon, Essex.
Basildon Council has been battling for a decade to remove the travellers and their children. The costly tangle of litigation generated has been condemned by critics as a "farce".
The one-day application for judicial review is being launched as the Dale Farm saga becomes a national issue. According to a YouGov poll, two-thirds of the British public support the council's attempt to clear 51 illegal plots which are home to about 400 travellers.
The residents applied to English Heritage to gain official protection status for the scaffolding gateway at the entrance, but the application was rejected on Wednesday afternoon.
They say it has become an "emblem of the struggle for travellers' rights".
The structure has been in place at the former scrapyard for five years and acts as part of the defence against bailiffs, a Dale Farm Solidarity spokesman said.
The clearance of the six-acre site was due to begin last week but a High Court injunction prevented bailiffs moving in while the courts grappled with fresh legal arguments.
In the latest legal move, lawyers for the travellers are asking Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting at London's High Court, to rule that it would be unlawful "at this point in time" for the council to pursue its eviction policy.
They are expected to argue it would have grave consequences for the large number of children living on the site and their schooling, and those with medical conditions. The judge is being asked to quash the eviction decision on the grounds that it violates the travellers' Article 8 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.