Time to get tough with travellers, says Black Country MP
A Black Country MP has called for tougher police powers to remove illegal traveller camps which he says are blighting communities across the region.
Mike Wood has urged ministers to revisit legislation on illegal camps in the wake of some travellers causing criminal damage to sites, prompting large clean up bills for tax payers.
The Conservative MP for Dudley South MP has also backed proposals allowing the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to pool the provisions of Black Country councils to create authorised camps at set locations across the region.
He said today: “Many travellers groups are simply waiting for the bailiffs to turn up and then moving on to another site nearby.
“This is deeply unfair on residents, who have to then deal with the mess that is left behind.
“Where groups are persistently disobeying court orders and causing criminal damage then the police should be able to look at measures such as inpounding vehicles.
Mr Wood raised the issue during Business Questions in the Parliament last week, where his calls were rejected by the Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom.
She said: “Local authorities and the police have a wide range of strong powers that help them to take action, including being able to direct trespassers to leave the land, removing any vehicles and property, when there is a suitable pitch elsewhere in that local authority area.”
She added that it was ‘not currently possible’ for local authorities to pool resources.
Travellers have caused mayhem throughout the Black Country and South Staffordshire in recent months. Several traveller groups have been evicted from fields in Dudley over the last fortnight.
Travellers were thrown off playing fields near Withymoor Primary School, while another group was ordered to leave a field by a One Stop convenience store in Brierley Hill.
Meanwhile a group of up to 25 caravans have apparently led the authorities in a game of cat and mouse around Wolverhampton, moving from field to field and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
Mr Wood said the current provision for traveller camps across the region was ‘clearly inadequate’ and suggested that allowing local authorities to pool resources under guidance from the WMCA may help to solve the issue.
“There are areas of the West Midlands that are more amenable to hosting traveller camps,” he added.
“If the combined authority was able to oversee a region-wide provision then I think it would be enormously helpful to places such as Dudley.” Council bosses in Dudley have revealed they are looking at potential sites for a temporary travel camp in the borough.
