Latest news with #illegalcamp
Daily Mail
13-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Worried residents watch on as 'travellers take over local park'
Travellers enjoyed a relaxing picnic in the summer sunshine today after driving onto a park and turning a large swathe into a no-go zone for worried locals. Residents steered clear of the area and a nearby cafe closed early amid rumours of anti-social and 'aggressive' behaviour after the 12 caravans when two motor homes, plus 16 cars and vans set up at Nowton Park in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Police and council officers scrambled to the illegal camp to ensure the occupants - who appeared to be eating and drinking at they sat in camping chairs around a table with children playing nearby - were aware it was 'unauthorised' and legal action might be taken. Frustrated locals complained about the invasion, which ignored a sign stating 'No overnight parking'. Visitors in vehicles also normally have to pay to park there or face a fixed penalty charge. One woman, who didn't want to give her name, said she'd read on Facebook that a café in the park had closed early because of the travellers. She said: 'We went in to get an ice cream but they said they were closing unexpectedly. Other people said it was because of the travellers.' Another woman, who gave her name only as Aneta, said her boyfriend had warned her to be careful after reading unsubstantiated claims about the group on Facebook. Aneta, 30, who had been going for a walk in the park, said: 'My boyfriend just messaged me because he saw on Facebook they were here and he told me to leave immediately. 'He saw on Facebook that someone said it's not safe here and that they were abusing people.' A woman in her 70s, who used to work in administration for the police, added: 'It's never happened here before. 'I know they used to be somewhere near the Tesco roundabout for a while and they seemed to leave a lot of rubbish. 'This is a wonderful park and we don't really want caravans here.' Another man said he wasn't "bothered as long as they don't leave a mess" but added: 'Once they're here it's hard to get them to leave.' The Grounds Café in the park was closed and a sign on the door read: 'Due to unsociable and aggressive behaviour we have had to close early for the safety of staff and customers.' Nowton Park is a 172-acre site which used to be part of a country estate. Paths lead through large deciduous trees planted a century ago. The area is a magnet for families, particularly during the summer, due to facilities including football pitches, a maze, lakes and a bird feeding area. Wide gates lead to the car park where users have to enter their vehicle registration when they pay to park. Those that fail to do so face being fined. A sign states: 'A Penalty Charge Notice will be issued for: no ticket displayed, parking outside the bays, invalid ticket, parking in a Blue Badge bay without a valid Blue Badge.' The travellers - who declined to comment when approached - are thought to have driven through the gates at some point on Tuesday night and across the car park to park into the clearing where they circled their vehicles. A council official was speaking with a park ranger about the travellers when the Mail arrived this afternoon. The official said the council was taking steps to remove the group but declined to say more. A similar number of caravans and associated vehicles stopped in the car park of an Asda superstore in nearby Stowmarket on Monday before leaving the following evening - although officials and police couldn't say whether it was the same group. The sign stated it had closed early 'for the safety of staff and customers' due to 'unsociable and aggressive behaviour' in the vicinity The travellers ignored signs warning that overnight parking at the public park was banned A spokesman for Mid Suffolk District Council, which covers Stowmarket, said the camp had caused 'concern... within the community' and the spot was 'a critical area for town centre retailers and attractions during the summer holidays'. He added: 'We were immediately in contact with the landowners and offered support to resolve the situation legally and as swiftly as possible. 'Our teams have also cleared up the mess that was left.' A spokesman for West Suffolk Council, which includes Bury St Edmunds, said: 'We are aware that 12 caravans, two motor homes and 16 cars and vans have set up at Nowton Park in Bury St Edmunds. 'Both the police and officers from the council have visited the group to make them aware that the encampment is unauthorised. 'Traveller Welfare will be speaking to the families to check on their needs. The group have been issued with bin bags in which to deposit their waste. 'We manage this public park and will be looking to get it back to its community use as soon as we can, which may include undertaking a legal process if required.'
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Land-grabbing' travellers were 'lucky not to have caused a train crash' after using huge diggers to build an 'illegal' camp feet away from a major high-speed railway line, expert says
'Land-grabbing' travellers were lucky not to have caused a catastrophic train crash after using huge diggers to build an 'illegal' camp feet away from a major high-speed railway line, an expert has warned. Villagers living in the sleepy community of Balderton were left horrified by the development of an unauthorised site right next to one the area's busiest rail routes. Builders arrived in force during the VE Day bank holiday weekend last month to convert a field off Bullpit Road, in Nottinghamshire, into the new camp. Excavators, diggers and large trucks were seen on the grassy plot, which was flattened and gravelled over in less than 72 hours - all without planning permission. One ex-soldier, who spent 22 years in the Royal Engineers before moving into health and safety and construction, said the works risked triggering a catastrophic rail crash. The Gulf War veteran, who lives locally, also chillingly claimed it was a miracle excavators did not damage the railway line or accidentally strike high-speed trains, which can race just feet from the new camp at a blistering 125mph. 'It brought a chill to my spine,' the retired Warrant Officer 1 told MailOnline. 'It's a busy line. The trains won't be able to stop, whizzing past the crossing at 125mph. 'It doesn't bear thinking about if you made a mistake. All it would have taken would have been for an excavator to have over-reached and hit a train passing. Then you would have had something really serious on your hands.' The retired Royal Engineer - who was previously an instructor at the regiment's prestigious engineering school in Chatham, Kent - added: 'We would have had to jump through hoops for months with Network Rail to do what they did that close to the northern main line.' An enforcement notice was later served by Newark and Sherwood District Council on May 8 - days after the works began - ordering the unauthorised construction to stop. A retrospective planning application for ten individual pitches, each with a static caravan and touring caravan, and ancillary hardstanding, has since been submitted by the landowner. However, locals fear the new site will prompt house prices in the area to 'plummet'. And concerns have also been raised about the risk posed by the camp's access, which is next to a busy level crossing. Neighbours fear travellers turning into it could block the road, leaving drivers stranded on the tracks as the barriers come down. One local, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline they were shocked when the unauthorised encampment appeared. 'We felt sick. Your stomach drops out,' they said. 'We thought this was our forever home. We love the neighbours then suddenly they turn up and build a traveller camp right on our doorstep. It's going to reduce the value of properties around here.' The retired soldier - who during the first Gulf War in 1990 helped build runways for military jets in the Middle East - added he was stunned by the speed of the work at the field. 'I know how to move a lot of stone with a lot of tippers, bulldozers and excavators quickly. So, to do all this in 72 hours takes a huge amount of planning. It was literally like a military operation,' the engineer said. The development in Balderton is not the only one to have sprung up around the area in the past few weeks. A similar development took place north of the community, between the nearby villages of Weston and Egmanton. A huge 40-pitch caravan site was built over the Easter bank holiday in April without planning permission. The site, based on a field off the A1, was completed in a matter of days, with tarmac roads and fences. As well as roads built on the camp, locals said they had also seen septic tanks sunk, electricity and water illegitimately connected, and key drainage dykes filled to create the site access. Both the plots in Balderton and Weston appear to be latest in a trend exposed by MailOnline which has seen fields unlawfully developed into traveller sites. Groups across the UK have been accused of carrying out brazen bank holiday 'landgrabs' to rapidly build camps under the noses of council chiefs while their offices are closed. Allegedly weaponising the national breaks, industrial diggers, excavators and lorries carrying gravel, are mobilised to rip up and pave over fields in protected green belts during 'deliberate and meticulously planned' operations. Cynically, the 'illegal' conversions are done without any planning permission, flouting development rules - with 'retrospective' applications later submitted to councils to allow the newly-constructed sites to remain. Since April, locations across the country have seen a sudden surge of developments - with the bulk taking place on the Easter, VE Day and late May bank holidays. An investigation by MailOnline has revealed similar unauthorised 'landgrabs' blighting villages and towns across Buckinghamshire, West Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucester, Worcestershire and Cheshire. During a fiery village meeting about the new site in Weston, furious residents feared the area would not be able to cope with the sudden surge of travellers. 'There's 40 caravans, so maybe 160 people - we don't have a shop, we don't have buses, the school can't take them,' one person said at the recent public meeting, as reported by the Newark Advertiser. 'What are they going to do? It'll increase stress on services, and they'll be bored and get into anti-social behaviour and it will increase stress on the police. 'There's been noise and light pollution all night, and intimidation. When I first came here I never felt so safe — I daren't leave my house because of this. I can't take it.' There is a large gypsy and traveller community around Newark area, with sites dotted across the district. However, the Labour-run authority overseeing the district is facing an accommodation crisis for its nomadic residents, with a recent assessment saying at least 169 new pitches need to be made by 2034 to house travellers. In a statement about the development in Bullpit Road, a council spokesman said: 'Newark and Sherwood District Council has been working diligently to find a solution to address the unauthorised development on Bullpit Road, Balderton. 'It is extremely disappointing that the occupants chose to ignore the requirement to secure planning permission and undertook construction works without permission and during the night. 'In an ideal world, the council would have the powers to step in straight away, stop the works, and clear the site. Sometimes we can do this, for example, if something is likely to be a danger to the public or create irreversible damage to a heritage building. 'But in regards to Bullpit Road, this isn't the case, and so we have to find another way to address the unauthorised development.' Network Rail confirmed it was not consulted prior to the work at the camp taking place, with the authority receiving its first notice on May 28 via the council.
