Travellers in city at home with rubbish

Travellers have settled into life on their latest pitch in the Black Country - setting up a patio set and chairs among piles of fly-tipped rubbish.

The group has pulled out a table and chairs to bask in their surroundings, complete with piles of rubbish, mattresses and tyres that had already been dumped before their arrival in Wolverhampton.

Three caravans have been pitched on private land at Greenway Road, in Bilston, since Thursday. The group had previously been at playing fields in Wednesfield.

It split up to set up home at the site while other members pitched on two other city sites. Other branches of the group, who set up at the former Royal Hospital site, in All Saints, and Raglan Street, in Graiseley, have moved on to other sites.

Witnesses said they saw a group of travellers use a sledgehammer to smash their way on to the former Royal Hospital site at 8pm on Thursday evening.

The land has been earmarked for a £50 million transformation by Tesco and bosses had said they would take "appropriate action to remove them."

More caravans had arrived over the weekend but this morning the land was lying derelict again.

Councillor Steve Simkins, representative for Bilston East, said he wanted to see swift action to move the Bilston travellers along.

He said: "It's the mess and the cost of cleaning up the mess that is just unbelievable. This is about the third or fourth time they have been here in Bilston"

One Bilston resident, who did not want to be named, said: "The site looks absolutely disgusting but actually it's not the travellers who have caused all the mess that is there.

"There is piles and piles of rubbish but the travellers seem to have tables and chairs out, just sitting among it."

Last Wednesday, the same travellers left playing fields in Wednesfield. They left behind a trail of mess and a sick puppy tied to a tree before splitting up and heading to the three new city sites.

Their tour of the city has cost taxpayers £30,000 in clean up and legal costs.