22 CONNORS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT apply. He saw no reason why, if it was reasonable and workable for owners of privately run sites and housing associations and local authority landlords of housing tenants to prove allegations, local authorities who ran gypsy sites could not be required to the do the same. He noted that ample powers were available to a court to deal as a matter of urgency with troublemakers, including the power to grant interim injunctions and the powers under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 which did not require the attendance of witnesses in court. He also disputed that the regime as it existed brought any financial benefit to gypsies through low costs as the cost of a pitch was variable, the average being much the same as rent for a Council house and in his case being almost double. 76. Furthermore, the applicant submitted that in his case, which concerned interference with an important right rendering his family homeless with loss of effective access to education and health services, the margin of appreciation should be narrow rather than wide. He considered that his case could be distinguished from Chapman v. the United Kingdom, ([GC] no. 27138/95, ECHR 2001-I, § 92), relied on by the Government, as that concerned a local planning decision grounded in local knowledge and understanding of local conditions whereas his case concerned assessment of a general policy at national level. (b) The Government 77. The Government submitted the interference was justified as necessary in a democratic society and was proportionate to its objectives. The applicant had agreed to occupy the plot on the terms that neither he, his family nor guests would cause a nuisance and he had been warned by the Council that he was in breach. In the circumstances, the Council was entitled to revoke the licence. Similar terms would have applied to a secure housing tenant. Though the licence did not require the Council to give the applicant the opportunity to challenge the allegations of nuisance made against him, it was a public authority obliged to act lawfully, reasonably, fairly and for the proper purposes for which its powers were conferred. Its decisions were therefore amenable to judicial review and the applicant, who was legally represented, was able to challenge the decision in judicial review proceedings where the High Court found no evidence to doubt the reasonableness and procedural fairness of the Council’s decision. The Council had also taken into account the needs of the applicant and his family in the decision-making process. If there had been no proper basis for the eviction or the applicant had mounted a substantial factual challenge to the asserted justification, the domestic courts would have been able, through their scrutiny, to provide a remedy against arbitrary action. There was however no substantial dispute as to the primary facts as the applicant did not appear to deny that his sons and guests were causing a nuisance. This procedure therefore provided the applicant with a series of important