Travellers set up illegal camp in Lye
Travellers have set up an illegal camp a roadside in the Black Country and are refusing to move, prompting the local council to take legal action.
Travellers have set up an illegal camp a roadside in the Black Country and are refusing to move, prompting the local council to take legal action.
About half a dozen caravans are parked on a grass verge in Bagley Street, Lye, Stourbridge. Residents reported their arrival to the council and an officer has asked the travellers to leave but they say they will not be shifted. Cabinet member for law and property, councillor Adrian Turner, said travellers who camp on the roadside are a nuisance to other residents.
He said: "They are a disturbance to other people's way of life. Also we tend to find a lot of rubbish is left behind when they move on.
"People who bought their homes in the area have done so with the intention of being able to access free land and they don't particularly want to walk past a place where people are camping."
Councillor Turner said because the convoy had refused to move the council would need to go to court.
Before it can do that it has to show proof it owns the land and gather witness statements to prove officers have given the travellers the opportunity to leave voluntarily.
In January ,travellers set up camp at a hotel near Wolverhampton which had fallen into disrepair since going up for sale more than two years ago.
Around five caravans moved on to the car park of the former Lea Manor Hotel on the A464 Telford to Wolverhampton Road at Albrighton.
Two years ago a group of travellers set up camp on the A449 Wolverhampton to Kidderminster Road near Holbeache Lane, Wall Heath.
After around three weeks they moved to behind the community centre in Enville Road, Wall Heath, leaving just before bailiffs arrived to move them on. Rubbish they left behind included scrap tyres, broken glass, rubble and a wrecked football field which bosses feared may not have been playable in time for the start of the junior season in September.
Their final destination was playing fields in Cot Lane, Kingswinford. They stayed several days before leaving the borough.