(Slightly inaccurate article with 3 year old photos of the beginning of village, and describes luxury development as student and affordable housing,when its a luxury care home and minimal social development,the kind of media spin you can expect from this paper)- Phoenix
A community of squatters camped near Runnymede's Magna Carta memorial face the bleak prospect of life on the streets after a top judge rejected their last-ditch legal bid to stay there.
The founders of the "Eco-village" moved onto the site near Englefield Green formerly occupied by Brunel University in June 2012.
Since then the land's new owners have been struggling to uproot them.
The group - which includes families and young children - is living in woodland beside the Magna Carta meadow, and insists that its basic human rights would be violated by a forced eviction.
But the case reached Guildford County Court in June this year when a judge made a possession order in favour of the site's new landlords, Orchid Runnymede Ltd, holding that their rights as landowners were paramount.
That ruling gave the green light for the community's eviction. But the dispute came before Mrs Justice Simler at the High Court, in London, as the group and its lawyers challenged the possession order - arguing it was too harsh and ignored key welfare considerations.
However, following a two-day hearing, the judge rejected the legal challenge, finding there was "no compelling argument" to prevent the eviction.
With no option of appealing the judge's decision, those on the site must now pack their bags and face dispersal into the wider world.
The judge said she had heard "eloquent" evidence and arguments from several of the squatters who urged her to overturn the possession order.
They claimed the county court proceedings - and the order - breached their right to a fair trial, as enshrined in the Magna Carta of 1215.
They also claimed to have rights under the medieval Charter of the Forest, and insisted that they should be allowed to construct a pioneering eco-village detached from the distractions of the modern world and the demands of being "wage slaves".
Mrs Justice Simler said she also heard testimony from a young mother who told how she was "welcomed" into the community after being forced to leave her home.
The woman said she would be devastated if forced to move out with her two children - and that she was facing the grim threat of "life on the streets".
But the judge said her job was strictly to apply the law and, in doing so, she had to "put aside" her natural sympathies.
The key issue was whether Orchid Runnymede have private law rights over the land, said the judge, concluding that the county court judge's approach on this question was flawless.
"There is no arguable basis for this appeal," she told the court, pointing that the squatters have now been on the site for three years and have had ample warning of the consequences.
Nor did the land's closeness to the historic Magna Carta memorial lend it any special significance, she explained.
"Its proximity doesn't make it common land or alter its status as private land," she observed.
Orchid Runnymede have earmarked the site for development as student accommodation, affordable housing, and the provision of a care home.
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