Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
|Home
Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
This website has been partly paid for from the funds made available to every MP to assist them in communicating with and representing their constituents.
Printed and hosted by Pipex Communications UK Ltd, Humber Buildings, Humber Rd, Beeston, Notts, NG9 2ET. Published and promoted by Norman Baker MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 1AA. The views expressed are those of Norman Baker, not of the service provider.
2003 (and previous) press releases
MP to meet Minister to discuss travellers' issues
Local MP Norman Baker is to meet Home Office Minister Hazel Blears in London on November 20th to discuss issues relating to travellers following events this summer in his constituency, particularly at Firle. Norman requested the meeting before the recent controversy surrounding Firle Bonfire Society's tableau.
The Lib Dem MP says: "It is clear that the present arrangements are not working. On the one hand, there is a need for a proper network of sites to allow travellers to exercise their right to a nomadic lifestyle. Over the years, successive governments have simply ducked this issue and hoped it would go away. It won't.
"On the other hand, there is a need for the government to take steps to deal with the minority who use the cloak of an itinerant lifestyle to carry out crime in the expectation that they will get away with it. We also need an answer to the all too common situation whereby landowners have their land occupied and then face a huge bill to clean the place up after the occupiers have left.
"Rights come with responsibilities. If both can be promoted, that will go a long way to taking the heat out of this issue."