A member of a Herefordshire gypsy family says he faces life on local roadsides following his imminent eviction from his pitch at a county travellers site.
Herefordshire Council announced in January it was evicting Zackery “Zack” Biddle and another member of his family from the Openfields site near Bromyard, following what it described as “large-scale” fly tipping around the site – for which it prosecuted Mr Biddle in 2022.
He has also been prosecuted for thefts from the neighbouring Bromyard household waste recycling centre.
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Mr Biddle was given 54-week prison sentence, reduced to four months.
“I had fines, and I was on a tag,” he said.
“A few months after prison, I got the notice evicting me from Openfields, where I’ve lived all my life.”
He claimed the council said they “need pitches for other gypsies and travellers, so want to take mine and my mother’s off us” – though he pointed out that other pitches at the ten-pitch site have been unoccupied for some years.
Residents are also unhappy with what they claim is official surveillance of the site via CCTV cameras mounted on a pole above the site.
Mr Biddle, a self-described Romany gypsy who has been diagnosed with psychological impairments, said the council’s gypsy and traveller team “said they would help re-home me, but they haven’t”.
“I don’t understand why they don’t just leave us where we are,” he said. “Now I’ll have to live by a roadside in my caravan.”
His mother, who declined to be named, said she had lived on the site since its creation the three decades ago, and had an operation to remove a brain tumour a year ago.
“I am on Home Point (the council’s housing register) but I can’t get a bungalow – it would be temporary accommodation or a bedsit, and I’d have to get rid of my dogs”, she said – though she acknowledged “there are some rent arrears”.
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A council spokesperson said it does not comment on individual tenancy or enforcement cases outside of formal legal proceedings.
“Eviction is a last resort and is only pursued following the appropriate process, where all other options have been exhausted,” they said, while the council “works within its statutory duties to ensure fair access to housing support and advice where needed”.
They added that the CCTV “is in place to support community safety and site management and is operated in accordance with legal requirements”.
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