Is it OK to ignore the rules ....?

 The rules I'm talking about the the ones from the Stray Act and Byelaws, like no parking, no barbecues, no horses (pity!), no model aircraft, and so on. They're not major crimes, and they're ignored, by users of the Stray, by the local authority, by the police, literally on a daily basis. And I mean literally (not figuratively, in spite of the fact that the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary maintains that the two words are interchangeable  - but that's another rant).

On Streetlife Jill E has made an extremely effective case for the importance of enforcing rules of this kind. With her permission, I'm quoting here what she writes:

"Janet M above has identified what is already and will remain an increasingly pleaded potential Human Rights issue [allowing vehicles to park on the Stray verges].  From personal and professional experience down in Surrey, the more lax the local Parish/Town/Borough/County Council has been in enforcing existing regulations, the more difficult/time consuming/both it may be to remove campers/travellers, less serious but flagrant breaches having been previously ignored or tolerated....................I'm not commenting on whether that should or should not be the case, simply that it is.  Likewise, where previous breaches have been ignored, any eviction process can take very much longer.  There have been many well publicised cases where such process has literally lasted years.  For benefit of anyone out there eagerly awaiting our new Bill of Rights, suggest you don't hold your breath.....................!"

"Well, there's no getting away from fact of legal (yawn) life that nowadays when we fail to enforce what might appear to be very minor breaches of regulations re open land we do so at our peril.  In cases like The Stray (ditto village greens, National Trust land with which I've dealt in the past), where people can effectively set up home, the consequences can be very serious indeed and I don't think we consider these sufficiently seriously, if at all, until the worst happens.  If you care to look online (such a thrill, it's bound to distract you from Wimbledon!!) at how the eviction process works (if it works...........................), you'll appreciate that it's far from simply calling police/obtaining eviction order as is often supposed.  There are so many other factors which have to be taken into account in contested cases when considering whether or not to make such an order and when it should take effect, health and welfare of 'residents' for example, whether or not local council has complied with statutory obligation to provide sufficient travellers' sites, to name just a couple.  Having seen it from both sides of the coin, it really concerns me as soon as I see the slightest erosion of open spaces which could be residentially occupied.  It can and does happen and any Stray Act or its equivalent will always be subject to Human Rights Act.  I've never seen all the regulations but if it were down to me I wouldn't let any regulations go unenforced, I'm afraid.  I could bore for Britain on this but have seen it in practice...................."

We need to take notice of this. Thanks, Jill.