More travellers arrive before clean-up operation complete

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The Council hasn't even finished clearing up after the last group of travellers when some more have arrived at Earl Road, Handforth.

One group, who had been camped on the Council owned land for 8 days, departed on Wednesday, 26th February, leaving piles of rubble and rubbish behind them.

On Monday, 3rd March, the Council's street scape team collected 28 bags of litter and today they returned with a lorry to remove all the rubble, which was too heavy to transport by tractor and trailer.

Having filled the skip with 10 tonne of rubble they departed when four traveller's caravans arrived and parked up on the site.

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: "A group of travellers, consisting of four caravans and five vehicles are currently based on Earl Road, Handforth. They arrived earlier today (March 5).

"Council officers are in the process of visiting the location and will move forward with the legal process to secure possession of the site."

Tags:
Earl Road, Handforth, Travellers
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Luke Bowdler
Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 3:20 pm
"Travellers" seem to be the most common articles on this website. The council need more powers to have them moved on. The current laws only persecute law abiding citizens in these cases. Not one "traveler" has been held accountable for any of the damage and mess left behind at any of the sites they have occupied. The Carnival field still has evidence of where the travellers dumped waste over 7 months ago. The police and the council work together to enforce laws and catch these people in the act of fly tipping.
Nick Jones
Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 3:23 pm
And here we go again.......... Lets measure the response............ or lack of
Derek Stevens
Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 3:29 pm
This must part of a concerted attempt to put pressure on the council to allow the gypsy site at the end of Moor Lane
Jenny Pepper
Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 5:04 pm
Anyone else feel the 'Travellers' are sat back, laughing at us?

When is anyone in Authority going to challenge the Travellers and the ineffective legal system? Instead we hear of secret meetings to find them sites!

When is enough going to be ENOUGH!
I've just read how buoyant our
Financial accounts are - is that why they simply continue to fund the constant clearing up of sites?
Well I would prefer that money spent on funding Youth Centres, & improving the Town Centre for example.

I don't normally put my head above the parapet and write comments but the cycle has to stop & we need to voice our concerns rather than just thinking them.
Chris Jones
Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 9:46 pm
Whoever at CEC or Cheshire Police that deals with this situation clearly hasn't got the backbone.
Isn't it about time the whoever was relieved of there position and somebody with a bit more about them put in place.
Mark Goldsmith
Thursday 6th March 2014 at 9:29 am
We should turn this into a photo opportunity for our PCC John Dwyer because that is all he seems interested in. So much for his pre-election pledge to tackle the low level crime that most annoys communities then.

Thankfully though, he did email me last year to say he had spoken to the Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary about this issue and was assured by him that the police were doing all they could on the matter.

Good job really, otherwise we could of had gypsies permanently camped here.

Oh, wait a minute....
Simon Smith
Thursday 6th March 2014 at 4:20 pm
How can Cheshire East continue to provide such a warm welcome if the mess is still there when the next lot arrive ? (or return).
Chris Jones
Thursday 6th March 2014 at 11:43 pm
It's late Thursday evening and I've just put my black dustbin out, there would have been a green bin also but that service has been stopped.
This isn't a problem from now on as all my garden rubbish on the non collection days will be dumped at Earls Road. "I will do this so please support me"
CEC may claim that the green bin collection is free, BUT the black bin service isn't,that's been halved annually at no reduction in council tax????
Derek Stevens
Friday 7th March 2014 at 8:57 am
Simon
Perhaps we can turn the rubble in to rockeries and plant flowers for them.(No need to add manure to the soil, they will have done that on their last visit).

Chris
What you need is an old caravan(parked where ever) that you can fill with garden waste, at your leisure, then tow it to Earls road. Nothing illegal about that.
Mark Goldsmith
Friday 7th March 2014 at 12:36 pm
I wonder if this has been reported to Cheshire Police as a crime?

With so many piles of rubble, this is a multiple crime as it is unclear if one or more people did the dumping. If this was reported as 8 separate crimes, it may put pressure on the police to apprehend the culprits (wouldn't be too hard to solve, would it), so they can improve their clear-up rate.

My money is that these are not reported, so Cheshire Constabulary can ignore them with impunity.

How do we find out if they were reported or not though?
Nick Jones
Friday 7th March 2014 at 2:35 pm
Once again...... I think I may be reading this problem in a different light...... CEC causes an obstruction of the Queens highway abandoning two ( removable unlit unmarked inflatable ?) tree trunks......... and now under Health and Safety Legislation has failed to remove them and now the additional "trip Hazards" of builders debris prior to the visit of their welcome itinerant guests..
I mean they must be welcome guests because they the Council isn't doing anything to get rid of them aagain..... Well at least when the ' secret site' ( previous threads ) it available at the Handforth / Woodford border, is available there will never be another illegally parked traveller in the area......NIMBY !!!
Claire Haworth
Saturday 8th March 2014 at 3:25 am
Not April 1st is it?
James MacDonald
Saturday 8th March 2014 at 1:18 pm
I'm surprised the council isn't laying a red carpet for them and providing free cooked meals each night too.
Kathryn Blackburn
Saturday 8th March 2014 at 5:44 pm
At a cost of £2000 to £3000 CEC can use a pre-emptive injunction which protects in advance 'sensitive sites' ie those that have already been accessed by the Travellers. Government have made it very clear to councils the need to take swift and decisive action and have given them the means to do this. The land would have a notice placed upon it after which any further trespasser would be arrested their assets seized and suffer fine or imprisonment. Why this has not been effected given the amount of times Earls Road has been used by the Travellers and given the costs incurred by the tax payer for the clean-up gives cause for concern that all is not what it seems and there is as others have said before me a touch of the Machiavellian about it.
Pete Taylor
Saturday 8th March 2014 at 7:54 pm
Cut and pasted from the "fly-tipping on Newgate Lane" article:

"Councillor Les Gilbert, Cabinet member in charge of communities and regulatory services, said: "Cheshire East Council adopts a zero tolerance approach towards this type of anti-social behaviour and continues to do its utmost to stamp it out.
"Our wardens, in high visibility uniforms or sometimes non-uniformed, target areas where litter or fly-tipping are prevalent, which hopefully sends a clear message that inconsiderate actions will not be tolerated.
"Court action is brought against offenders who do not pay fixed penalty notices for offences of fly-tipping.
"We try and focus on this issue through education and enforcement and our wardens will continue to patrol littering hotspots to catch offenders in the act."
The Council confirmed that the Streetscape Team will be visiting the area to check for evidence of who is doing the fly-tipping and the debris will then be removed as soon as possible.

Is it me?
Steve Wainman
Saturday 8th March 2014 at 8:26 pm
Why don't the council find them a permanent site somewhere there not going to bother anybody I guarantee that they would keep it clean or why not let them use the public tip free of charge saving Cec the clean up costs. Travelling is sort of a religion did you complain when they build these religiousle centres and play loud prayers over a tannoy ?
Nick Jones
Sunday 9th March 2014 at 10:19 am
@ Pete Taylor... A very interesting piece of research .......... I suspect the caveat would be something like... Yes BUT we dont use video equipment and we dont deal with issues that concern RoW and we wont go into situations where we have to go face to face with offenders..etc etc.......

So the question is .. Councillor Les Gilbert, Cabinet member in charge of communities and regulatory services. .. To warrant this nomenclature....... What are you CEC and the local Law enforcement community actually doing to reinforce and evidence the "Cheshire East Council zero tolerance approach "???

To quote Bachman Turner Overdrive... " We just aint seen nothing Yet !! "
Mark Goldsmith
Sunday 9th March 2014 at 11:41 am
@Steve Wainman

If we gave the gypsies free access to the tip they would just start a waste collections business.

As for the guarantee that they would keep any site clean - how exactly can you make this? Sorry, but it has as much worth as a guarantee on a dodgy driveway the gypsies build.

I do know of many caravan sites though that are far away from people. There are plenty in Ireland, but for some reason the "travellers" don't want to live on them. Instead they chose to come here instead. If their behavior was not so anti-social, then we would be far more accommodating towards them and the council would already have a site. There are many holiday caravan parks in Cheshire and funnily enough, local people don't seem to mind those. I wonder why?

Finally, if I do ever hear loud prayers over tannoy's then I will complain about that too. But this is Wilmslow, not Islamabad, so it hasn't happened yet.
Richard Minton
Sunday 9th March 2014 at 1:48 pm
Public enquiry regarding a travellers permenant site on moor lane

The inquiry will be heard over two days on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th March at Macclesfield Town Hall.

As many people as poss should turn up , don't think someone else will
They might think the same thoughts
Steve Wainman
Sunday 9th March 2014 at 6:17 pm
@ mark goldsmith

How can you categorise people not all travellers are bad I'm a traveller I know live in a house but the behaviour of some of the local people's behaviour disgusts me have you ever been and talked to the travellers oh bye the way the word gypsy is seen as a insult towards travellers
Jenny Pepper
Sunday 9th March 2014 at 8:19 pm
Steve - could I ask you a question - it is a genuine question and one that has puzzled me for years -
You say you are a Traveller, but you are living in a house? Could you enlighten me on how someone is classed as a traveller - but then isn't free as such, to travel, as they have relatively permanent roots?

Thanks
Derek Stevens
Monday 10th March 2014 at 8:50 am
Steve Wainman
How do class yourself as a traveller if you possibly don't travel?

If travellers want 'respect' from their local community there are a few things they have to do.
1 Pay Tax
2 Pay Council Tax and water charges
3 Pay to dump commercial waste
4 Buy a permanent residence with proper drains
5 Learn to ply their trade in a professional manner like the majority tradesmen.
6 Stop fly-tippng

Travelling ! a religion -I don't think so.
Lisa Reeves
Monday 10th March 2014 at 3:26 pm
Cheshire East Council have just informed me that the travellers have now left Earl Road.
Mark Goldsmith
Tuesday 1st April 2014 at 3:27 pm
Lisa Reeves
"Cheshire East Council have just informed me that the travellers have now left Earl Road."


As of yesterday they are back, so let the pantomime begin again.

"You have to move off here"
"Oh no we don't"
"Oh yes you do"


We all know how the story goes by now.