Temporary travellers site launched in Willenhall amid lockdown
A temporary travellers site will open in Willenhall tomorrow to be used amid the Government lockdown.
The campsite, located at Wakes Car Park, off Walsall Street, will be in operation for the foreseeable future, Walsall Council has announced.
It can only be used by travellers who have been directed there by West Midlands Police and council officers.
The transit site has been specially launched because the current travel restrictions would prohibit council officers from carrying out normal evictions.
A council spokesman said: "Current government restrictions on non-essential travel mean the council cannot use the current legislation to evict those unauthorised encampments which set up on land in the borough.
"The site will provide a place to which unauthorised encampments in the borough will be directed during the Covid-19 lockdown.
"The facility will be accessible for the foreseeable future and will be kept under review in line with Government guidance on Covid-19."
In a bid for health and safety, the "appropriate washing facilities" have been provided to help prevent coronavirus spreading, the spokesman added.
But the move has been opposed by Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes, who has urged the council to reconsider its decision.
In a letter he wrote: "Encouraging travellers to come to a site on the edge of Willenhall town centre seems wholly inappropriate, and I simply do not believe that a more suitable location could not be identified."
Mr Hughes has also demanded to know whether an injunction preventing travellers from settling at Wakes car park has now been revoked.
