The House of Lords has today allowed an appeal by Mr Doherty against a possession order granted to Birmingham City Council for his eviction from the gypsy caravan site on which he has lived for over 15 years. The Law Lords decided that despite Parliament having exempted such sites from security of tenure, Mr Doherty was entitled to defend the claim and have a court review the reasons why the council wanted to evict him.
Had Parliament not legislated last week to extend security of tenure to gypsy caravan sites, the Law Lords would have made a declaration that English law was incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
For a copy of the Judgment click here.
Mr Doherty was represented by Jan Luba QC with junior barrister Alex Offer. The solicitor was Chris Johnson of the Community Law Partnership.
