Travellers rapidly build alleged illegal four-acre site over bank holiday weekend
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 6
Travellers rapidly build alleged illegal four-acre site over bank holiday weekend
9 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 6
In Willows Green near Felsted, Essex, residents said about 30 lorries arrived from Friday night, concreting most of the 1.6-hectare field and pitching caravans.
Uttlesford District Council said it was assessing the unauthorised development and gathering evidence for possible enforcement, while locals reported fear, sleeplessness and concerns over wildlife, drainage and pollution.
Traveller rights campaigner Sherrie Smith said the landowners were cousins seeking a better future for their children and had apologised; council papers from December showed demand for 35 traveller pitches locally.
Are families who build on their own land 'gaming the system', or are they victims of one that fails to house them?
Could providing legal traveller sites be a cheaper and better solution than years of costly court battles?