A concerned Cllr. says local residents are “exasperated” at the length of time it is taking to move on a travellers encampment from Silver Lane, Risley.
Currently, the only remaining active encampment listed in the Warrington area, travellers arrived on January 12, after allegedly breaking through a security barrier.
Cllr. Maisey, who has been urging Warrington Borough Council to provide an official encampment in the town said: “Residents are writing to me daily and seem exasperated with the length of time it is taking to move on this latest encampment which I initially reported, along with other Councillors, on the 12th January.
“Usually, a Section 77 notice would be issued on site and they’d have 24 hours to move on and would not be permitted to return to the site within three months. However, on this occasion, there seems to be grounds for a medical exemption and the notice is not able to be served.
“In the interim I’ve requested that the rubbish which residents have contacted me about is removed, and WBC has promised this will be done by tomorrow (Friday)
“I’ve also asked about the feasibility of fitting a more robust height barrier, to replace the standard barrier which is in situ at the moment. The ward Councillors would also like a full break down of costs once the site is finally cleared.
“It’s frustrating that the WBC traveller task group, who have been tasked with identifying a transition site for Warrington has yet to meet this year. When we see the transit site in Halton working so well, it really is false economy to the taxpayer to keep kicking the can down the road.”
2 Comments
This problem has been going on for a number of years now,one gets sick of commenting,cos it just keeps falling on deaf ears..travellers must of cost this town a fortune..officer time,police time,
Social services time..etc etc..clearing the
Sites up when they leave,which I believe can be horrendous,the list goes on…the council are supposed to be looking for somewhere to put a transit site..HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE…HOW MUCH HAS IT COST IN TOTAL, OVER THE YEARS?
HAVING A SITE IN WARRINGTON WOULD SOLVE ITS TRAVELLER PROBLEM..THEY COULD BE MOVED ON, BEFORE THEY EVEN SET UP A CAMP.
Anyone who believes establishing a Travellers’ Transit Site for the travelling community in the borough is going to resolve this problem is not facing up to reality. Travellers will continue to set up ad hoc camps across the borough as they do now, TTS not withstanding. So WBC will have incurred the establishment cost for the TTS and still face further usual costs as they do now, pending the travellers moving to the TTS. If indeed they do, and then pay the costs for using the site. More than likely as usual they will set up an ad hoc camp in another place in the borough and the whole process will begin again. Read the reports of other LAs around the country that have set up TTSs, Cambridge for example that has more than on TTS. They still have the problem and associated costs of ad hoc camps to deal with.