1st Class Bailiffs Articles

The many reports of illegal traveller sites springing up all over the place during the bank holiday weekend has finally led to one council taking action. The daily and weekend newspapers have been rife with stories of traveller camps settling on land in local communities over the past few weeks.

In around a week’s time, Basildon Council will be publically advertising for bailiffs to win the lucrative £2million contract to clear 86 families from sites in the area. The sites are located at Crays Hill and Hovefields in Wickford.

The contract will be open to all bailiff companies across the continent and it will be advertised in the official journal of the European Union. The travellers have been attempting to stall the process by appealing against any eviction and private talks with the council are still ongoing.

Council leader, Tony Ball said:

“The advert will be published next week. We are then looking at about two months to award the contract, before any families still at the site are served 28-day notices of eviction. We hope in the meantime they will move off peacefully.”

This move by a local council closely follows government plans to utilise professional bailiffs’ services of debt collection.

An attractive and peaceful small town in Gloucestershire was given a shock during the bank holiday weekend when an illegal travelling encampment was set up in a beautiful meadow.

This invasion occurred in Newent, the smallest of the four towns in the Forest of Dean District and which has been known for many years as the capital of the Ryelands.
The travellers arrived late on Friday, once the local council offices had shut for the weekend. Within no time, the camp was set up, complete with sewerage, toilet facilities and electricity.

Once the land was occupied, it was soon built upon and with it being the bank holiday, this made it extremely difficult for locals to make any objections to this invasion and contact any enforcement agencies dealing with traveller evictions.

The local townspeople were helpless to do anything as the hired lorries moved in and digging equipment was used to help construct the more-permanent encampment. The land was fenced off and 12 caravans were pitched in farmland just outside the town. The travellers moved onto the land they do not have planning permission for, just opposite three large houses.

Local councillor Len Lawton commented on the situation:

“Villagers were told the field’s owners only wanted to build temporary accommodation for horses. When the owners started making small engineering changes earlier this year, such as laying pipes, the council reminded them that major building work required planning permission.

“The owners were asked to respond but never did. I have nothing against the travellers’ lifestyle. My concern is that the legal system seems unfairly weighted against local people.”

Police have been told not to evict illegal gypsy and traveller camps from private land unless they are causing additional problems such as crime.

New guidelines have been offered to police forces from chief officers saying that the “mere presence” of an unauthorised camp should not normally result in their eviction, even though they are actually breaking the law through their trespassing.

Illegal sites are to only be cleared if the travellers are also guilty of “aggravating factors” such as crime, anti-social behaviour or damage to the environment.

The guidance says that the measures will help to balance the gypsies’ human rights, placing these alongside those of landowners and the general public.

Police have now admitted that illegal camps will still remain “a feature of life in this country” and it is “almost impossible” for gypsies to avoid camping illegally because of a lack of lawful sites around the country.

The Association of Chief Police Officers have come under fire, but have responded by saying that its guidance is necessary because these unauthorised encampments are “one of the issues” that stand in the way of community relations between the gypsies and travellers and settled communities.

The guidelines state that the final decision to use police powers is still at the discretion of the senior officer present.

This comes only three months after the Daily Telegraph newspaper had warned that the number of gypsy and traveller sites being forced on councils has more than doubled in two years.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“It is shocking that the police are abandoning their commitment to defending private property.

“People pay their taxes for the police to defend our families and our property and the authorities must not abdicate that responsibility.

“A police force that turns a blind eye to trespassing is no police force at all.”

The most recent figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government showed there were 1,750 gypsy caravans on unauthorised sites in England with 2,240 on land owned by travellers, but without planning permission. The figures also show that even where councils turn down some applications for sites, inspectors are increasingly overturning those decisions.

Travellers have set up camp in the vacant MFI car park in Drake Street, Rochdale according to the Rochdale Observer.

There were also reports of travellers using the Kwik Save site at Well i’th’ Lane, although this group of travellers had already moved on when the Rochdale Observer checked on Monday 13th April.

This comes three months after the Daily Telegraph had warned in an article that the number of traveller sites being forced on councils has more than doubled in two years.
Last year Rochdale Borough Council spent more than £23,000 cleaning up after travellers had used eight sites around Rochdale within just three months. Money was spent on employing bailiffs to move the travellers and clean up the waste left behind costing around £3,000 per site.

A council spokesman told the Observer they were aware of the current situation but were investigating what could be done about it.

Rochdale Councillor Mohammed Sharif, representing the Milkstone and Deeplish ward said:

“I reported the problem on Friday night. It’s private land so I don’t think the council can do much – they will have to get in touch with the land owners and work together.”