Travellers on £400k revamp playing fields in Walsall - West Midlands

From the Express and Star

Around a dozen caravans managed to gain access and create a camp on Broadway West Playing Fields in Walsall, prompting the council to issue a notice to leave or face eviction.

It comes as the once-contaminated fields are being cleaned up to allow ball games to return for the first time in a decade.

It is the latest Travellers camp to have settled in the borough following a spate of problems in Ryecroft in spring. Caravans kept moving between sites in Mill Lane, forcing the council to take twice take action through the magistrates court.

It is believed the Travellers on the fields off Broadway West, which is a main route between junction nine of the M6 and Walsall town centre, had originally been on a nearby retail park.

Mohammed Rafiq, chairman of the Palfrey and Caldmore Neighbourhood Watch, said there had been a lot of dumped waste and they were concerned the same could happen at the fields.

“There has been a lot of rubbish left, there are gas canisters which is a safety concern for us and our community. We understand on Monday evening they moved over the road to Broadway West playing fields.

“They have been using the mini-motos and dumping rubbish. It is also the cost to be picked up by taxpayers as it is council land that needs to be cleaned up.”

It emerged last week that the fields are unlikely to be used for football and cricket until next year after bad weather.

Ball games were stopped in 2003 following the discovery of dangerous metals in the soil.

It had been hoped football would return later this year as part of the £400,000 work which includes a new layer of top soil, with cricket the following summer.

But the heavy rain and snowfall in the first three months of the year mean the land is not expected to be ready until 2014.

Long-standing calls have been made for the playing fields, off Broadway West, to be reopened for sports.

A petition was presented to the council in 2006. At least 10 clubs had to find alternative sites to train and play fixtures.