Miles Martin Connors, a 45-year-old traveler, bought a one-acre field in Sundridge, Kent, at auction for £167,000 in October last year. According to major media reports, he and his family moved onto the field over the Easter weekend, using up to 25 lorries to tip rubble and convert it into a hardstand caravan site. Sevenoaks District Council served an enforcement notice on Connors ordering him to return the land to its previous condition by August 10, including removing hardcore rubble, caravans, and vehicles, and re-seeding with wild meadow grass.
Under a Temporary Stop Notice, Connors can live on the site for 56 days until June 2, using only two of four vehicles, and is prevented from further engineering works or connecting to utilities. The specific human rights grounds cited by authorities for allowing the temporary stay have not been disclosed. During the incident, a local resident protesting the work was arrested by police, rather than the traveler.
It's absolutely typical that travelers who show little regard for the human rights of law-abiding residents use the Human Rights Act to play the system. It's preposterous. Everyone is angry but local authorities seem powerless as the law is on their side.
According to Daily Mail - News, an unnamed villager described the situation as preposterous, with local authorities seeming powerless as the law is on the travelers' side. Laura Trott, MP for Sevenoaks and shadow education secretary, stated that the only way to effectively deal with unauthorised developments once and for all is to change the law. The timeline and process for any enforcement notice appeal or legal challenges by Connors remain unclear.