Travellers remain at council owned Stoke car park - after being evicted from Fenton Manor - Staffordshire

From the Sentinel

TRAVELLERS evicted from a leisure centre car park remain at another council-owned site, just a mile down the road.

Around 20 caravans and cars moved onto a car park used by Stoke-on-Trent City Council staff off Wharf Place, Stoke, on Sunday evening.

The group have remained at the site throughout today.

The authority is to apply for a court order to force the gypsies off the land close to the A500.

The council refused to reveal the cost of evicting them and cleaning up the site.

Police are also investigating how the families accessed the Stoke car park, which is controlled by a barrier.

Councillor Ruth Rosenau, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transportation, said: “We were made aware of Travellers on the site on Sunday and are working to resolve the issue. Officers will continue to work with the Travellers to ensure that they move on as swiftly as possible, with the minimum amount of disruption.

“We are working with the police and monitoring CCTV to examine how access was gained to the site – the car park has a barrier which bars people from entering without a pass.

“In the meantime, we ask people to be patient until the situation is resolved.”

A Staffordshire Police spokesman added: “We became aware on Sunday that Travellers were trying to gain access to the car park on Wharf Street in Stoke. We are now working closely with our colleagues from Stoke-on-Trent City Council to deal with the situation and CCTV is being examined to see if any damage has been caused.”