Please find attached these latest press cuttings about a ban on Pagans at Avebury car park.
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##Nuisance notice served on trust##
An enforcement notice has been served on the National Trust by a local council because of ongoing problems with travellers and pagans.
Kennet District Council issued the planning enforcement notice on the trust after overnight problems at Avebury Stone circle in Wiltshire.
A spokesman said complaints had been received about bad behaviour caused by the influx of New Age visitors.
The trust has until 6 November to lodge an appeal.
A council spokesman said: "The council has warned the National Trust that it should not allow overnight camping and caravanning in its car parks because it is a breach of planning control.
"The trust has responded by saying that it is trying to find an alternative site."
Regional director Brendan McCarthy said the trust had been working hard to find a solution that balanced a large number of factors and interest groups.
He said: "We are all aware of the unsuitability of the current car park for the larger pagan celebrations and the trust is committed to finding an alternative which will be acceptable to all parties."
source bbc news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6044972.stm
Thursday, 12 October 2006, 14:18 GMT 15:18 UK
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STONE CIRCLE VILLAGE GOES TO WAR OVER PAGANS IN THE CAR PARK
It has been a place for ceremonies and rituals for thousands of years, but now the future of pagan worship at the West's biggest stone circle has been thrown into doubt - by a row over a car park.And the dispute could ultimately see the return of scenes from the 1980s, when traveller buses and hippies were forcibly moved on by police in the lead-up to the sacred dates on the pagan calendar.
Yesterday, villagers living by the stones at Avebury welcomed a shock move by their local council to serve an enforcement notice on the National Trust, banning pagans from staying overnight in the village car park.
They said that growing numbers of pagans are coming to observe more and more festival dates on their calendar - and enough is enough.
For while it is the summer solstice that gets most attention - and attracts as many as 5,000 revellers to the Wiltshire village - no fewer than 49 pagan events are planned in Avebury over the next 12 months, ranging from the equinoxes to ceremonies to observe full moons.
And when the festivals occur, the village's main public car park is used by the pagans to camp and stay overnight in buses and camper vans. For the big festivals, that means hundreds of tents and vans, but for even the less important ones, there can still be dozens of people camping out.
For years the National Trust, which manages the car park, the stones and most of the village, turned a blind eye to the overnight stayers.
But with mounting pressure from residents angered by the influx of pagans in their normally quiet village, all sides had been deep in negotiations to find a solution.
Kennet District Council had been working with the Trust, villagers, police and pagan representatives to solve the problem.
Until yesterday, that is, when council chiefs stunned everyone by slapping the legal order on the National Trust to sort the mess out.
The move has thrown the delicate negotiations into chaos and means that from the New Year, the National Trust will be breaking the law if it allows anyone to stay overnight in the car park.
And if the Trust can't stop them getting in, and they refuse to leave, then a return to the "bad old days" of the 1980s could be in the offing.
Kennet councillor and Avebury villager Gretchen Rawlins said: "The problems caused by the unauthorised use of the car park as a caravan site are getting worse. Villagers have had enough of the noise, bonfires, bad behaviour and traffic congestion that now occurs on many weekends when there are these festivals.
"The enforcement notice is a clear statement from the council that the Trust urgently needs to find a solution that all parties can support.
"It's not just the summer solstice any more.
"It's virtually every month. The villagers have had to learn all the pagan dates to know when their village is going to get invaded next.
"For instance, for Lammas on August 1, there were 20 camper vans and buses in the car park and around 19 tents. That's an awful lot of loo facilities and the car park doesn't have any."
A council spokesman said the enforcement notice was inevitable. "The council has been monitoring the use of the car parks following a series of complaints from locals about bad behaviour and disturbances caused by the influx of pagans and other travellers to the village.
"We have warned the National Trust that it should not allow overnight camping. The search for an alternative site is taking a long time and we saw the need for the notice to establish the urgency of the problem."
But National Trust bosses described the notice as "unhelpful" yesterday. Regional director Brendan McCarthy said: "We are all aware of the unsuitability of the current car park for the larger pagan celebrations and the Trust is committed to finding an alternative. We had planned proposals by the end of November. We will now have to consider a range of options.
"By forcing the Trust at this stage into a position where it has to find instant solutions, the council risks alienating many of the partners who are working hard to find a mutually acceptable solution."
###comments###
Your Views
Having seen the appalling behaviour of some of the pagans, who use front gardens as toilets or for sexual encounters, I am not surprised that the patience of residents wears thin. The pagan community have not been willing to stand up against those who give pagans a bad name. Many of the residents have lived at Avebury longer than it has been such a popular site of modern pagan worship. Are the residents to suffer rubbish, loutish behaviour and roads blocked by unroadworthy vehicles until some other "sacred" site becomes fashionable?
Jennifer, West Midlands
of course, proper facilities need to be in place. where is the local enterprise to make money out of the visitors? do they want them to go away because they are 'pagans' not proper tourists or pilgrims. (forgive us for having so many religious occasions) what would be the national and iternational reaction if these were Muslim or Christian worshippers being prevented from visiting a place of worship? i suspect the council would be far more proactive and sensitive in providing a solution to the problem
portland, west midlands
Avebury is a place of Pilgrimage for all people and all Religions. This move is a flagrant statement of religious persecution..
denise price, Glastonbury
pagans have the right to visit sacred sites but it should be done with respect,both for the stones and also for the local comunity. It can't be nice for the residences to have fires and noise pollution on pagan dates. we should try to find a suitable campsite away from the village.
jenny, worcs
Living near a busy shopping area myself I fully understand where the residents are coming from. The noise from people and vehicles must be extremely disturbing to daily life. However the fact remains that the stone circle has been there longer than any house, pub, shop or chuch. It has been a sacred site since it was built and will continue to be for longer than any of us will be around. It seems to be ever so slightly hypocritical for people to live right in the centre of an ancient and sacred monument and for councils to build a road that almost splits it in two, and then complain that people camp in a car park away from the village while using the site for it's original reason. Worship. I think there needs to be some serious give and take on both sides and an agreement reached rather than a group of people making demands on something they have absolutely no sympathy or understanding about. What about if the council frees up some land for a proper campsite with facilities nearby, surely that would be better than having to spend nights in dusty old car parks. And when are people going to realise that our joint interests should be the up keep and preservation of a very special place. Is there any chance we can work together over this?
Raven Feather, Midlands
##source western daily press
http://www.westpress.co.uk
BY TRISTAN CORK [email protected]
09:50 - 12 October 2006
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WHY CIVILISED VALUES APPLY TO PAGANS TOO
09:50 - 12 October 2006
No. 46,337IT is one of the most important historic sites in the country and attracts thousands of visitors every year.
And even though it is often overshadowed by its prehistoric neighbour Stonehenge, nothing can quite match the magic of the ancient stone circle at Avebury.
But yesterday there were murmurings of the bad old days returning to the village and the surrounding area.
Those with long memories will remember all too clearly the days of pitched battles between police and members of the New Age travelling community.
The unseemly scenes, which far too often disfigured the summer months in Wiltshire and its villages, were beamed across the world.
But thanks to a change in attitudes and a relaxation of the laws everyone assumed those days had long gone, never to return.
Now people living in the village are becoming worried about the renewed invasion of travellers and pagan visitors.
In the past, the worshippers used to turn up just once a year but now it seems that there are ever more festivals and dates to mark on the Pagan calendar. And now the keep-out signs look set to reappear.
People should have the right to get to important monuments such as the one at Avebury.
But the rights of residents should not be forgotten either.
##source western daily press
http://www.westpress.co.uk
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