Business chief calls on council to scrap plan for traveller transit site

A business leader is calling on Warrington Borough Council to scrap plans for a traveller transit site in the town – claiming it won’t resolve the current issues.

Colin Daniels, Chief Executive of Warrington & Vale Royal Chamber of Commerce, who has twice been impacted by travellers setting up camp on the car park outside his office at the International Business Centre at Westbrook, said: “A lot of these travellers believe they are above the law – a law which is going to change.

Colin Daniels

“The Government have said they are going to change the law of trespass and make it a criminal offence, which will make it a lot easier for the police to move them on.

“There are recent examples of areas that are served with transit sites which have still suffered from problems of travellers parking on private land because they don’t want to pay the site fees. This happened on land near Edgbaston Cricket ground, where the local authority has an official site and also near Wembley.”

“Up to 1,600 illegal sites are being used in England and Wales every year, so there is not much sign of these official transit sites working.”

Mr Daniels said the borough council had already spent £72,000 on searching for a site and also earmarked £2m in reserves to pay for one.

“I don’t think having an official transit site will make any difference and the council would be better off scrapping the idea and saving the money,” he added. “We have had two incursions on the car park outside the Chamber offices and it has cost us to have them moved and to clean up the mess they left.”

A total off £1,500 has also been spent improving car park security with a new barrier.

Cllr Russ Bowden

But Warrington Borough Council leader Cllr. Russ Bowden responded: “The Council is continuing towards delivery of a designated travellers transit site in Warrington.

“We believe that this is the most effective way of dealing with unauthorised encampments and our approach is supported by other partners.

“The Council made a full submission to the Government during the public consultation held last year. In response, the Government has reaffirmed the importance of transit provision within planning policy.

“Potential changes to the law would require further consultation and no timetable has been set for any amended legislation. It would be inappropriate to change our approach now on the basis of possible future changes in the law.”