TRAVELLERS have vacated the Millennium Green at Appleton, with local police stating criminal proceedings will follow after the site was damaged.
The unauthorised encampment of 12 caravans and several other vehicles had set up in the Lumb Brook Rd area of Appleton, after earlier being forced to leave playing fields at nearby Appleton Thorn.
They had arrived on the New Road playing fields in Appleton Thorn on Monday evening.
The local police beat team attended the site on Tuesday morning and made a site assessment. Due to various factors at the location, they utilised our powers under S60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act to require the travellers to leave the site by the following day.
The following day – Wednesday morning, the occupiers left as requested, however they only moved a short distance, and began to set up a further unauthorised encampment on the land at Millennium Green.
Again, a further site assesment was carried out by local officers and again police powers were used to direct the occupants to leave this land by Thursday afternoon, due to damage and disruption caused to the site.
The travellers have all now left the area of Millennium Green and moved on. Police are aware of damage to the site and criminal proceedings will follow to prosecute those responsible.
A police spokesperson said: “There is sometimes a perception that the police do not take these matters seriously, however I can assure you that we have been working extremely hard behind the scenes to make sure this unauthorised encampment was moved on as swiftly as possible from the local area.
“There are certain procedures that we must adhere to, and when dealing with such large numbers of vehicles and individuals, this can be very resource intensive in order to ensure that any occupiers of land do in fact leave as requested.”
