1st Class Bailiffs Articles

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.