Revealed: West Midlands traveller camps cost taxpayers £1 million per year

The huge bill was unveiled by council staff as they revealed their officers were regularly being threatened, followed home, and intimidated by travellers at unlawful encampments on public and private property in the region.

And police said there was a rise in the number of businessmen being 'extorted' by travellers who were occupying private land and demanding payment to leave.

Yesterday's hearing by West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson was told the number of unauthorised camps had 'spiralled' with nearly 400 in 2015 compared to 189 in 2011.

And the size of the camps were growing with up to 60 vehicles and caravans and 200 travellers on a single camp in some cases.

Walsall had the largest number of unauthorised camps in the entire West Midlands with 117 in 2016, up from 85 in 2015 and 62 in 2015.

Councillor Julie Fitzpatrick said there had been a 'marked change' in the number of camps and their size.

She said: "We get calls of camps with more than 40 caravans. We are also getting more calls of anti-social behaviour, noise, dangerous driving, criminal damage, and significant fly-tipping."

She told the inquiry the council spent £100,000 dealing with the unlawful camps in 2016 and £70,000 in 2015.

Dudley Council's Andrew Leigh told the summit that there were 20 unlawful camps last year compared to just six in 2012. He put the clear-up costs at £57,000 over the past year - not taking into account staff time and cost.

He said: "Last year was a particularly difficult year. It was an expensive game of cat and mouse around the borough.

"Moving travellers on doesn't solve the problem, it displaces it.

"There is an impact on community relations and tensions with some quite difficult and nasty situations arising."

Sandwell councillor Richard Marshall said there had been a 'three-fold' increase in camps over the past 12 months with 84 in 2016.

He said: "We are not anti-traveller, we are multicultural with one school in the borough having 106 languages.

"We have seen travellers moving onto sites by removing locks and chains and then putting there own on there so people cannot get onto the site."

He said in one case the council spent £12,000 to clear up mess left by travellers at Black Patch Park in Smethwick only for another camp of 12 caravans to set up almost immediately after.

Officer John Baker said the authority spent £190,000 dealing with camps in just six months last year.

The case of a Tipton businessman who was locked out of his premises by travellers was cited.

Wolverhampton councillor Steve Evans said there had been a reduction in the number of camps in Wolverhampton over the last year.

He said there were around 40 camps in 2015 and two thirds were taking place on industrial land with one business experiencing 20 'incursions' over three years.

"Not all travellers are bad and half the time they move on voluntarily and half the time they clear up their mess - but that of course means half the time that is not the case."

He said Wolverhampton council put aside £80,000 to deal with unauthorised traveller camps.

Birmingham City Council said it had around 100 unlawful camps last year - particularly in parks - with a rise in reported anti-social behaviour.

The council said it spent £700,000 dealing with the camps and on the clear-up operation last year.

In Coventry there were 20 unauthorised camps, costing £45,500 last year.

Anne Brereton, Director of Place at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, said council workers have been subject to 'intimidation' including staff being followed and travellers turning up at their homes.

She said staff now had to wear body cams and they would sometimes use bailiffs if there were threats to council staff.

Selly Oak MP Steve McCabe told the hearing that the summer had been 'characterised by incursion'.

"Local people felt threatened, dogs ran wild, and there was intimidating behaviour," he said.

"We didn't only have the same police policy for the West Midlands - we didn't have it for different parts of Birmingham."

Superintendent Phil Dolby said the force had seen an increase in the number of unlawful camps and the size of them growing.

He said there were a number of possible reasons for this, including the growth of a horse fair in Kidderminster, spontaneous events such as funerals and prize-fights, and the economy forcing more travellers to look further afield for work.

He also said the Midlands' location was also on major routes to other horse fairs in Appleby in Cumbria and around the country.

He said: "West Midlands Police is tasked with balancing the needs off everyone - the settled community and the travelling one.

"It is a highly-charged issue and the language used is at times unhelpful."

Helen Jones, a representative from the traveller and gypsy group Leeds GATE, said: "Even if we had all the transit traveller sites we want, there will still be a number of unauthorised incursions."

She recommended councils use 'negotiated stopping' with travellers to highlight suitable stopping sites and possibly offering toilets and skips for rubbish."

She said the first hour of travellers arriving at a site was 'crucial' to improving community relations.

Mr Jamieson has produced an action plan following the hearing.

He said: "At the moment, we are not doing the right job in the right way for everybody - this summit helped us see that and move forward on a more productive path.

"We need to have clarity on this issue and the summit has helped us achieve that. We need to be more intelligence-led and share data between all agencies involved.

"At the moment, the situation isn't working - for both the settled population and the travelling community. But we now have a set of practical action points we can work on to improve things for everybody."