Dudley traveller site to be in place by May next year
A travellers holding camp will be in place next year in Dudley but hundreds of angry residents would rather see hot spots sealed off.
The transit camp will provide a place for travellers to stay when they arrive in the borough rather than pitching up on unauthorised land.
It is expected the new site – to be ready by May next year – will cut the amount of illegal camps by 70 per cent. There have been 11 unauthorized encampments so far this year costing taxpayers £50,000 to clear.
Around 200 residents who packed out a public meeting on Wednesday night demanding answers and said they would rather see measures put in place to stop travellers gaining access to at risk sites such as a moat or bollards.
But this was played down by council chiefs who said fortifying all 3,000 potential sites in Dudley would cost £1 million.
Leader of Dudley Council councillor Patrick Harley, said: “This behaviour recently has been unacceptable.
"When we have had travellers in the past they have come and cleaned up after themselves but in the past couple of years it has been appalling.
"This is why we have taken a tougher stance against them using our powers. The long term solution to rid the borough of this problem is to introduce a transit site.”
Alan Lunt, strategic director at Dudley Council, said: “We do not have that money to secure all the sites. Security does not work either, it does not prevent incursions.”
Questions were also directed at West Midlands Police, with the force being accused of not doing enough to tackle travellers.
This was dismissed by Superintendent Phil Dolby, the force’s lead on unauthorised encampments, who said his team often had difficulty arresting travellers for crimes such as criminal damage as it was difficult to narrow it down to the individual.
A location has not yet been decided on. It comes as police evicted more than 30 caravans spread across three sites in Brierley Hill on July 5.
