Council bid to move Travellers in Great Harwood - Lancashire

From the Lancashire Telegraph

TRAVELLERS who rolled their campervans on to a patch of spare land in Great Harwood have been told to attend court today The Travellers parked their vehicles on council-owned land in Shaftesbury Avenue a week ago, said a nearby resident.

A total of seven campervans and caravans were on the grass yesterday alongside cars, plastic chairs and bags of litter.

And now the council, which said it was first notified on June 20, has acted quickly to move them on.

It said it had issued the campers with a notice instructing them to leave and to attend court today where the council will apply for a possession order - which would allow bailiffs to move in if the Travellers don’t leave.

Local authorities have the power to direct unauthorised campers to leave unoccupied land if they are residing on it under section 77 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Deputy leader of the council, Coun Claire Pritchard said: “We have to issue the notice, but if they don’t leave, we need to go to court to get a possession order to allow us to move them on.”

Coun Pritchard said removing the Travellers forcibly was possible, but as a last resort.

A nearby resident, who wished to remain unnamed, said she felt ‘intimidated’ when the Travellers first arrived a week ago, but said they had caused no trouble and had been ‘relatively quiet,’ although she said she was keen to see them leave.

MP Graham Jones praised the council for its zero-tolerance approach to illegal Travellers but said the Government should introduce tougher measures to give local authorities more power - an opinion he has expressed to Parliament and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles.

“Hyndburn Borough Council is one of the best in the country for the removal of illegal sites and they are doing everything they can,” he said.

“It’s not just evicting Travellers, it’s preventing them too. Local authorities do not have enough power and it’s tax payers who must fund the clean up.”