Anger after travellers set up camp in hamlet

Cheslyn Hay Sport and Community High School was forced to shut early yesterday after four caravans and a number of vans and cars moved on to the school's coach car park in Saredon Road.

And dozens of caravans have set up a separate camp at a nearby field in Middle Hill, near Cheslyn Hay. The travellers have since left the school's site overnight after being ordered to move.

They originally pitched up on the car park, used for coaches dropping pupils off at school, last Wednesday night but were asked to move on by police and council chiefs.

Yesterday the school announced it would be closing at 3pm, ten minutes earlier than normal, to allow time for the extra traffic.

Mike Lawrence, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member for communities, culture and localism, said police had used powers under the Public Order Act to get the travellers to move on. But the car park was expected to remain closed this morning while it was cleared up by staff.

He said: "The headteachers of the high school and primary school went with the police late on yesterday to ask them to move, and then the police used their powers later on to order them to go.

"This was a disaster waiting to happen – the council built the coach park at quite a considerable expense for the safety of the children, and it was all put at risk for a few caravans. I'm relieved they have gone."

The gipsies in Middle Hill, meanwhile, moved on to the site last Tuesday.

Residents of the hamlet near Wedges Mills say that while the travellers have caused no trouble, they have set two bonfires at the side of the road. It is also said they blocked the road when they first arrived due to the volume of vehicles.

Tim Wright, who lives in Middle Hill, said: "We've lived here since 1997 and this is the third time we've had travellers. I think Middle Hill tends to attract them because we're a bit off the beaten track."

A fellow Middle Hill resident, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "It was Tuesday morning they arrived, just a few of them, but by the time we'd been shopping and came back there were that many of them it was blocking the road.

"We don't like them there, but apart from setting two bonfires at the side of the road –which,quite frankly, you don't expect to see – they've not caused any trouble."

Staffordshire Police spokeswoman Faye Casey said: "We understand that the travellers left of their own accord overnight following notices being served."

She said it was now up to the school to decide when the car park would re-open.