Evicting Travellers Bill To Be Introduced To Commons

A Tory MP will introduce a Bill to Parliament on Wednesday which would give greater powers to police forces and councils to move on Travellers from illegal sites.
Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, will present the Bill after PMQs on a 10-minute rule motion. 

Although it stands little chance of becoming law in its own right, aspects of the Bill have the sympathies of ministers and could find their way into a government bill later.
Kirby's Bill would revise the 1994 Public Order Act, he says, to give clarity to police and local authorities on who should take the lead on emptying illegal sites.
It also calls for changes to welfare checks, currently compulsory for Travellers each time they are moved. He says that every time a Traveller camp is removed from one site and established in another one nearby, local authorities must carry out a welfare check before attempting to evict them again.
His Bill would also allow for impounding of Travellers vans if the owners do not move on when told to.