PCC urges MPs to back stronger powers to tackle unauthorised traveller sites

There were an estimated 395 unauthorised encampments in the West Midlands in 2016, more than double the 189 in 2011.

Police and crime commissioner David Jamieson held a summit earlier this year on how to tackle the encampments earlier this year, attended by MPs, other PCCs, senior police officers, council officials and travellers.

He has urged MPs to back proposals for more transit sites across the region, stronger powers for police, better protection for businesses and private land and injunctions that cover larger areas.

Mr Jamieson said: “This will be a significant opportunity for MPs to raise the issue of unauthorised traveller encampments and the weakness of policing powers on the issue.

"I hope local MPs push the Government to take the urgent action we need.

“My postbag and inbox are filled, each week, with correspondence from local resident’s concerned about unauthorised traveller encampments in their areas.

"There are few issues that get local people as passionate, and rightly so.

"Problems have been around for too long and too little has been done to address them.

"But we shouldn’t shy away from the difficult issues, least of all those that matter so much to people.

“There were an estimated 395 unauthorised encampments in the West Midlands in 2016, more than doubling from 189 in 2011.

"This has cost local councils millions of pounds in clean-up costs and eviction. It has also resulted in untold misery for local people whose lives have been disrupted.

“It is a minority of the travelling community that cause problems and have been allowed to give the whole community a bad name.

"However, the anger felt by the public towards that minority is very real and understandable.

“Small practical changes in the law would unlock extra powers for the police to tackle many of the issues we face.”