Travellers pitch up illegal encampment with up to 30 caravans on huge field next to Surrey's million pound homes

Daily Mail​

16-06-2025

Around 30 caravans were set up in an illegal encampment next to Surrey's multi-million pound homes over the weekend.
The group gained access to the grounds of Stoke Park, Guildford, after a groundsman reportedly left the access gate open.
Their presence sparked fury among local residents after various scheduled events were forced to cancel over the weekend, including the local parkrun.
Guildford parkrun organisers said they could 'not safely hold the event' due to the risk of moving vehicles.
They told runners: 'We are sorry to say that Guildford parkrun is cancelled this Saturday 14th June due to an unauthorised encampment in the park, as we cannot safely hold the event if there is a risk of vehicle movements.
'We are taking the decision now on the advice of the council, as it is expected that the encampment will not have moved on by the weekend. This is to give you a chance to make other plans.'
Another junior run was forced to cancel their event, to the disappointment of local residents.
Posted on a community Facebook page, one resident said the travellers had made the park a 'nightmare' and warned visitors to 'be on your guard'.
He wrote: 'Some of the travellers in Stoke Park are a nightmare; a few teens from the camp are roaming the grounds robbing people, and older ones are driving around the field at speed. Some are even leaving human faeces under the trees.
'This evening a group of them came into the skatepark, causing grief, then they stole a bike. The police never get involved, and the skaters will only take so much before it gets nasty; And when that happens the older travelers might kick off!
'If [you're] thinking of visiting Stoke Park, be on your guard.'
MailOnline has not been able to independently verify the claims. Surrey Police were contacted for comment.
Guildford Borough Council said: 'There was a recent unauthorised encampment in Stoke Park, but this has now moved on.' It is believed the group were out of the area by Sunday.
Over the past two months, many groups of travellers have been seizing secluded plots of countryside to turn them into vast caravan parks.
It has affected villages and towns in Buckinghamshire, West Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucester, Devon, Worcestershire, Cheshire and in Hampshire's New Forest, MailOnline has found.
And a new map lays bare the scale of the situation.
Furious MPs have lambasted the travellers' tactics, which they say makes a 'mockery' of the building development rules millions of law-abiding Britons are forced to abide by.
However, those breaching the rules have insisted they are doing it because of the nationwide glut of official sites, and the 'stigma' nomadic residents in the traveller and gypsy communities face staying at the road side.
In the space of a few weeks, at least nine 'illegal' sites have appeared across the UK - all seemingly using a 'carbon copy' modus operandi.
It's seen those behind the builds carrying out 'military-style' operations to rapidly construct new traveller developments before officials can stop them, transforming rural plots of field and grassland into sprawling, concreted caravan parks.