Travellers have once again set up camp on Earl Road in Handforth.
They arrived on the Council owned land near Handforth Dean on Friday, 28th March, and six caravans have been parked at the end of the road since.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: "A group of Travellers, consisting of six caravans and vehicles, is currently based on Earl Road, Handforth. They arrived last Friday.
"Council officers have visited the location and we are now moving forward with the legal process to secure possession of the site. As they have not yet left the site, we will be seeking a court order to secure repossession."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
These are replies from the council under FOI
1
Further to the response I sent you regarding travellers, I have received some more information from our Assets Team that I would like to pass on to you. They have totalled the amount spent by their department for the areas you specified and have come up with a total of £3270.11.
PLUS
2
Our Gypsy & Traveller Liaison Officer has advised that the time he spent dealing with travellers in the Wilmslow, Handforth and Alderley Edge area is as follows:
‘Total 19 encampments in 12 months at 6hrs per encampment = £1482.00 that equates to £78.00 per encampment from start to eviction.
16 of the court attendances were through the county court costs incurred £175.00 per attendance = £2800.00, the 3 others were through magistrates court no fees incurred
Solicitor fee = £75.00 per attendance = £1425.00’
In addition, our Streetscape Team have provided the following information:
‘We currently do not keep detailed records of this type of clearance work as it forms part of our core service obligations. However, to provide a realistic approximation gathered from information provided by our Wilmslow, Handforth and Alderley Edge Team Leader, Streetscape has carried out the following:
On areas which are not public open space and where we have recharged other internal departments within the Council the amount equates to £3320.20. (Tipping Cost).
Site clearance work that is conducted on public open space which requires clearing like litter on Earl Road, Carnival Fields and Dairy House Lane, including man hours and tonnage comes to £4078.10 (labour & material).
Estimate of 30 gas bottles collected from sites that are taken directly to a gas cylinder dealer for disposal /recycling at a cost of £5.00per cylinder = £150.00
Streetscape have also dropped off around £260.00 worth of bin liners to various camp sites to enable travellers to dispose of domestic waste correctly at an agreed collection point on site which reduces the time and resources spent by our staff tidying sites once travellers have been given notice to leave the site.
Total estimated spend to remove traveller waste by Streetscape from the Wilmslow, Handforth and Alderley Edge area within the past 12 months = £7808.30’
I make it £7808 +£3270 so far spent on our visitors (not including this weeks visit)
The council needs to get real and replace the inadequate tree stumps they laid down last December for a more permanent measure, such as static heavy duty bollards or some form of gate.
I suppose in any event it would be difficult to enforce parking offences until CEC are dealt with themselves for causing the obstruction of the Queens highway in the first instance with their not so clever "tree trunk trick".. !!!
And here we go again......... I note its always a spokes person from CEC no one provides their name email or contact details re this do they ???... Looks like CEC have again accepted defeat chasing their tails again..... No smart use of their resident funded legal capability...... so Just let them park at the Council offices.. or even the library,,,,, as is planned to make it the centre of the community in other current threads...
Is this an example of how CEC performs elsewhere, in areas that are not under the public spotlight? Depressingly, I fear it is.
PS I'm surprised the tree trunks haven't been cut up for firewood yet. But then again, that would be doing the public a service.
This the police response
With regards to your e-mail; “why are Cheshire police not enforcing the illegal fly tipping, public disorder, illegal parking on a public highway of the gypsies on Earles Road Handforth. These are criminal offences are should be acted upon. Please note. Any reply or lack of reply will be reported to the Residents of Wilmslow and surrounding areas through the media”
Unauthorised camping is a problem which requires a range of solutions. The Government has already introduced new housing and planning policies to ensure that in the future the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers will be properly understood and properly addressed, part of which is a new obligation on local authorities to identify suitable locations in their areas that can be used for the establishment of new public and private Gypsy and Traveller sites. In the meantime the Government is working with the Gypsy and Traveller community to find pragmatic local solutions to accommodation shortages while the longer-term policies take effect.
The current situation in Cheshire East where there is no provision for a transit site or temporary stopping place for travellers makes the issue of unauthorised traveller encampments more difficult to deal with as the needs of the travellers must be balanced against the impact and needs of the local community.
Unauthorised encampments occur on private property and also land owned by public authorities (including highways). The main factors determining the impact an encampment has are its location, its size and the behaviour of the group; all of these and any other considerations including the welfare of the travellers themselves need to be carefully considered in an objective and fair way when coming to a decision as to how we are going to deal with the issue.
Decisions must be made on what is actually occurring and not just the perceptions. Encampments feature regularly on land in Cheshire East, with on average over 40 roadside encampments each year, some of these present few problems, whilst others constitute a large scale nuisance in real terms.
Enforcement can be by Police (usually S.61 CJPOA 94), Local Authority (Part 55 Civil Procedure rules or s77 CJPOA 94) or by private landowners under common law in person or using bailiffs or civil procedures (i.e. court order)
What is abundantly clear is that eviction by any of these methods doesn’t solve the problem, merely pushing travelling families around the area and vastly increasing the inconvenience to all parties. In fact of the 40 or so encampments, many are actually the same group moving around the area so in fact each year there may only be perhaps 15 family groups who visit the authority area. Over the last 3 years the number of encampments has been reduced from average 70 to its present number. This is not because of any reduction in traveller numbers, merely to managing sites effectively so that Travellers are only moved on by police when there is a real need to do so.
With regards to criminal behaviour, the police can only act when they have evidence. In order to gain a successful conviction for the offence of fly tipping the police need evidence of who has tipped the waste, for example a witness who could identify the offender and who would be prepared to go to court and give evidence if necessary.
Regards
Sgt Brickhill
I particularly laughed at the "In order to gain a successful conviction for the offence of fly tipping the police need evidence of who has tipped the waste for example a witness who could identify the offender and who would be prepared to go to court and give evidence if necessary.."
Presumably, this applies to all crimes then? So if no one sees a burglar breaking into your home then the police are powerless to convict them? Have I just woken up in the year 1814 not 2014? Has Sgt Brickhill never heard of forensics? Or video surveillance?
Well, he clearly doesn't know the law either, so who knows. The law says the owner of the vehicle that does the tipping is responsible, regardless of who actually did it. The penalties include up to 5 years prison, £50k fine, a driving ban, forfeiture of vehicles, electronic tagging or community service. Removing the vehicle would send a signal that fly tipping is not acceptable behavior and doesn't pay. And how hard would it be to prove this? Provided you can be bothered to collect any evidence that is.
There is clearly a lack of willingness to act by the police. The letter shows their view is Earl Road is away from residents, doesn't block traffic or stop anyone using it. It can also be cleared up easily (hey, its only tax payers money, so who cares). Therefore, why move them on, where they may cause more trouble elsewhere and Cheshire Constabulary may have the "inconvenience" of actually having to do something to stop it?
Plus they don't have any targets for this to fulfill, so what's the point, especially when they have so many community liaison e-mails to send out from behind a comfy desk.
Where did it all go wrong though? When did our police forget that they just uphold the law and are not social workers there to "solve the problem"?
Interesting ( but also very disappointing ) responses gents; CEC and the Police are both legally empowered to authorise surveillance activity to capture evidence of crime . It is not just for a witness / RoW to report their observations. They can commit resources time and equipment. PCC said he wanted to deal with issues that concern residents after all. The Road Traffic Act and other legislation deals with parking / vehicle offences / obstruction etc this has nothing to do with quoted legislation. They are not on Private land they are on The Queens’ Highway, The same Queen they represent and ultimately via taxation system who also pays their wages. I was always led to believe that immunity from prosecution was granted by very senior officers and CPS lawyers above the identified rank. I find it interesting that continued obstruction, littering, vehicle / parking offences are being “aided and abetted” by inaction as they only need to be moved on “ When there is a real need to do so “ ???????? !!!!!!! Who exactly is making that qualified judgement? Under ECHR Rights to equality, fair trial and privacy ...What a great defence presented here to all those who are now caught parking on yellow lines... You can’t just treat one group of people differently to another however you want to look at it, and you can’t keep turning a blind eye. Avoid problems and you will never overcome them; What’s been demonstrated here.. AGAIN..is that If a jobs worth doing, it’s worth delegating... But who to in this instance?? Answers on a post card please to CEC and PCC. I suspect you like me are fed up of this round-about of inadequacy.... If it wasnt so inept it wouldnt even then be funny......so .... Maybe they shouild just be allowed as the advance ground preperation workers to camp at Adlington Road.. !!
To solve the problem for everyone - how about allowing the travellers to use Wilmslow Police Station car park instead?
That would keep everyone happy. The police could watch them from the comfort of their office windows to gather the fly tipping evidence they need. Plus they would be on hand to clear up the mess (on unpaid overtime of course) left behind when the travellers decided to leave.
Then I wonder how indifferent the police would be towards the travellers illegal behavior, if it's on their own door step and it's their own time and money that gets wasted?
I wonder if they ever check the travellers' vehicles to see if they are taxed and insured? Check whether the kids are going to school and abiding by health and safety regulations. I bet not, as this would be breaching their human rights!!
It makes me so cross as many years ago when I was in the police we were on patrol every day and knew straight away if anything was going on on our beat, and did something about it
This is the reply, from Sgt Brickhill, I received the other week regarding travelers vehicles
'As soon as any travelers arrive in the area the police do attend and we take a note of all the registrations displayed. These are then checked to confirm that the vehicles have the correct registration for that vehicle and that the vehicles are taxed, have a MOT and are insured.'
Regards
Sgt Brickhill
Why don't Cec just concede to their voting public. That they haven't got a clue how to pro actively solve this or any other R o W issue ,, oh they have.
Note the part about no sleeping, camping or cooking in car park, though I suppose the travellers are not 'cuctomers' if they have not paid to park!