Dale Farm residents prepare for last stand against eviction

After weeks of legal wrangling, the gates to Dale Farm have been locked for the last time. For the Gypsy and Traveller residents who regard the site as their home, the last remaining entry point is a rickety wooden gangplank leading up to the constantly manned observation tower. Now that all sides in this decade-long planning dispute believe that every last legal avenue has been rejected by the appeal courts in London , that plank will be pulled up tomorrow as residents and activists prepare for a forced eviction of 86 families. After a call for support, including one made at London's anti-austerity occupation at the steps of St Paul's cathedral , demonstrators have arrived in their scores during the last 24 hours. Vehicles are no longer allowed in or out – a few caravans departed on Monday evening either to move to plots on the "legal" side of the farm, or to be sold because their owners fear they they will be damaged or destroyed in the coming days. Inside the farm, which is now more like a militia compound than a home for dozens of children, a Russian military truck weighing at least 10 tonnes blocks the gate. Beneath the vehicles' four-foot high wheels, a grey-haired lady heaps quick drying cement onto the remains of an industrial washing machine to root it to the ground. One 38-year-old activist called Kelly, who arrived on Tuesday said: "I'm a legal observer ... I found out that the three [appeals] have been denied so I got back here as soon as possible." Under the ever-vigilant gaze of the watchtower, one young male activist welded spikes to a pole. "It's to block the road," he explained. Others inside Dale Farm say that when Basildon council's appointed bailiffs finally arrive they will be met by protesters suited in padded outfits and wearing shields. There will be paint bombs and asbestos boards fixed to the perimeter's edge. The asbestos is an old squatters' trick which will slow the eviction process down because of health and safety, said another activist. The council is not without it's own tactical armoury. After a decade-long fight which has cost Basildon an estimated £22m, the council refused to give any precise time for eviction but said it was "preparing resources" for it. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of bailiffs, police and security guards are expected to arrive at the site – a few days ago the council brought in a crane which its owners say, can reach a height of 133ft (40 metres). Parked beside the crane are two earthdiggers. Activists, part of the Dale Farm Solidarity Group, also say they spotted security guards scouting the woods adjoining the Traveller's site on Monday evening. Last-minute talks broke down after 15 minutes on Tuesday when residents' groups stormed out, saying the council and its leader, Tony Ball, still refused to find any alternatives for families. This came despite repeated offers to sell the six-acre plot, which the Travellers own, to the council in return for another site in Essex. Resident, Kathleen McCarthy, who led the walkout, branded the meeting a "public relations stunt". Since an earlier eviction attempt in mid-September was put on hold due to court proceedings activists have prepared defences. A car beside the main gate has been gutted and filled in with concrete and numerous barricades have been constructed with scaffold poles and barbed wire. Ellie Wilkinson of the Dale Farm Solidarity Group said: "Lots of people are still working on the lockdown, everything from mixing concrete to welding things to building barricades so that is in progress right now. People are planning to get into full lockdown for Wednesday when we expect the bailiffs to come." Wilkinson said it was hard to estimate exactly how many activists had arrived on Monday night but said their numbers had at least doubled from a base of around 50. She said the mood inside Dale Farm had also changed. "Residents here realise that a lot of the legal avenues have probably been exhausted, that the barricades really are all that are standing between them and homelessness right now." After earlier frictions between residents and protesters, Wilkinson said residents were now getting involved in preparations and willing to lock and chain themselves to entrances to obstruct bailiffs. "[They] are incredibly determined to resist," she said. Richard Sheridan of the Dale farm Housing Association confirmed that residents such as himself are working with activists to help with anti-eviction measures. "These people are personal friends of ours. They are helping us and we're helping them," he said. Sheridan added that the eviction was a waste of money. He quoted the Commission for Racial Equality's 2006 report, Common Ground , which estimated that it cost £18m a year more to keep Travellers in England and Wales on the roads rather than provide them with permanent living sites. "I feel sorry for the taxpayers of England, it's [money] that could be better spent."