A EUROPEAN body which investigates the welfare of minority groups will visit travellers at Dale Farm in Crays Hill just days before a crucial council vote.

Representatives of the Council of Europe are to visit travellers as part of a fact-finding mission.

They will interview families before deciding if they should go public with objections to Basildon Council's £13million eviction plan.

The visit on March 10 or 11 falls just days before councillors will vote at the Basildon Centre on March 14 to ratify spending the huge sums of public money on the clearance.

Members of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, part of the Council of Europe are also meeting with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, a Government quango which opposes the eviction, in London.

Grattan Puxon, a campaigner for the families said they were buoyed by the visit.

He said: “Families at Dale Farm now hope that lack of funding for the eviction together with this timely European investigation will sway councillors to vote at least for a delay to the long-planned clearance.”

Richard Sheridan, Dale Farm spokesman, added: “We’re in the midst of finding alternate places to which we can move peacefully. To this end we’re working closely with our MP John Baron and council leader Tony Ball.”

Mr Puxon said an application for a relocation site on Homes and Communities Agency land at Gardiners Lane South, Basildon, was now more likely than one planned for Pound Lane, Laindon.

This is due to ecological concerns about Pound Lane and the fact Gardiners Lane is classed as a residential area.

He said there was also likely to be a legal challenge if the council serves 28-day eviction notice following the council meeting on March 14.