Showpeople family go into battle over council eviction

Jimmy Stringfellow is facing the fight of his life to stop his eviction

"There was nothing on this. This was a dump," says Jimmy Stringfellow as he stands by the chalet he built near Glasgow's River Clyde.

Wearing his trademark brightly coloured Fedora, the flamboyant showman looks around the yard where more than half a dozen self-built homes sit.

"We came here and we hired machinery: JCBs and tippers and God knows what."

Jimmy and his family have been living on the yard on Water Row in Govan for more than 40 years, but now a legal case to evict them is heading to Scotland's highest court.

The 76-year-old comes from a long line of showpeople.

He travelled the country for decades with fairground rides, games and snack vans, the remnants of which can be seen around the yard, including a carousel horse displayed in a lounge window.

The show people yard - here on the right - sits beside the regenerated area which is due to be extended

Jimmy is now retired and so is his traditional way of life.

"It's just an existence, to be a showman," he said, describing touring with their carousel rides, games and attractions – known in Scotland as "the shows".

"We were operating with the shows and getting a living that was keeping us going."

But Jimmy's deteriorating health has made this increasingly difficult and now he is under pressure to vacate the site to make way for a new development.

Times are changing and the Clyde waterfront is changing too. A multi-million pound regeneration plan is under way in what was once part of the city's industrial heartland.

The entrance to the Stringfellows' yard at Water Row in Govan

More than 90 new homes have already been built in the Water Row area, along with the Govan-Partick bridge which opened last year.

The next phase would see the redevelopment of the area where the Stringfellows live, a stone's throw from the shiny new crossing.

Set out in a masterplan by a Glasgow City Council committee in 2019, the preferred layout for the Water Row development "could not include" either of two showpeople yards currently occupying the site.

Jimmy Stringfellow has been a showman all his life, taking carnival rides and games to attractions across the country

Glasgow City Council says the family has no right to occupy the land and is taking legal action as a last resort.

Jimmy says his family moved to the site in the 1980s, but since then the local authority has threatened him with eviction more than 20 times.

"I've had more sheriffs than Robin Hood," he said.

"Every case we went to, we won it.

"They don't like me because I stand up to them and I'm not frightened of their fictitious authority."

But this case is different. Next week, the Stringfellows will be fighting eviction at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland's highest court.

There are seven occupied chalets on the Water Row site, including the home of Jimmy's daughter Chanel and his five-year-old granddaughter.

The case could set a legal precedent in what is believed to be the first test of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in a civil court since it was incorporated into Scots law last year.

The act requires all Scotland's public authorities, including the government, to seek to protect children and young people's rights, and consider them when making policy decisions.

It is unlawful for them to contravene UNCRC requirements.

Chanel wants her daughter to remain in the only home she has known

Just Right Scotland, the legal team representing the Stringfellows, will argue the rights of the child have not been taken into account and eviction would breach her right to a secure home.

Chanel, 46, has been living on the yard since she was the same age as her daughter.

"It's my home. It's my memories. It's my granny's apple trees on the yard. I've been here for all my life," she says.

"It's like you being put out of your family home."

Chanel says the local authority has offered alternative sites, but insists they do not meet the family's needs.

"They're just not suitable, they're not big enough."

Chanel's daughter has grown up on the site and Chanel wants her to stay there

She says it has been difficult explaining to her daughter what is happening.

"She doesn't really understand what's going on because she's only she's young," she said. "But she knows something. She knows people are trying to take her out of her yard, out of her home. She's worried, she was having nightmares."

She is also concerned about the impact on her parents Jimmy and Diane.

"My mum's the glue, she's a rock, but she's crumbling. I'm a bit like my dad: stubborn, strong, fight."

Barbara Bolton, partner at Just Right Scotland, says the legal team will also argue that the Stringfellows should have the same rights as tenants in social housing when it comes to eviction.

She said: "In 2001 the Scottish Parliament passed a law to give protection against eviction to those who rent their home from local authorities and social landlords.

"In doing so, they recognised the importance of having a level of stability so that tenants can put down roots and invest in their home, knowing they will not be asked to leave at any moment.

"That need for stability applies equally to travelling showpeople who live in chalets and caravans in accordance with their cultural heritage."

Phase 1 of the development is complete and has brought sustainable social housing to Govan

In a statement Glasgow City Council said: "The council has raised proceedings against the occupiers of the site who have no right or title to occupy it.

"These proceedings have been raised as a last resort. The evidential hearing in the case begins on Tuesday 2 September and therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

The case will call before the Court of Session and is expected to last about two weeks, although a decision may not be made for several months.

Jimmy thinks the outcome will not only affect his family.

He said: "If they get me off of here - and I'm 76 - there's not another showperson, not another person living in a chalet anywhere, and any caravan site, that will be safe.

"When I die there's going to be nobody with the guts to take them on like I've done."