Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Call for action on travellers
Travellers are still living on the site of a derelict pub in Wolverhampton – seven weeks after they first arrived.
Residents living near the pub say they are still waiting for action to move on the eight caravans, which arrived on the grounds of the former Paget Arms pub in Park Lane, Bushbury, back in May.
They say the land has become strewn with rubbish, with bottles, cans, black bags, rubble and clothes on the floor and dogs sniffing around the site for scraps of food.
City council chiefs today said they are pressing the owner of the site to take steps to to remove them, but cannot intervene themselves and speed the process up because the land is privately owned.
It means nearby residents could be in for a wait – the owner of the land has to bring forward his own private prosecution for trespass unless the travellers move on voluntarily, which could take weeks.
Mary Brooker, aged 83, of nearby Guy Avenue, said: “They are a pain in the backside. The pub has been an eyesore for a long time anyway, this is just dragging it down even more. I just hope that they move on quickly, it obviously seems too much trouble to kick them off. The rubbish is awful.”
The travellers relocated to the site after leaving land in Showell Road, another privately owned site that they decided to leave of their own accord.
The Governments wants town halls in the West Midlands to create almost 100 new camps for travellers to reside on legally, but no council has yet revealed which sites are under discussion.
Councillor Peter O’Neill, who represents Bushbury, said: “The local authority is pressing the owner to take the necessary legal action, this is causing us some problems. We’ve also been in touch with the local fire officer and asked him to make sure the pub is secure.”
The old Parget Arms pub building is currently on the authority’s Local List, which means planning officers can refuse future developments considered unsuitable.
The city council will not reveal who owns the land.
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I’m not sure what the locals are complaining about. If anyone has ever visited Bushbury it’s one of the biggest tips in the black country.
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The travellers need somewhere to live too, leave them alone!
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Stop racism against romany gypsys. It’s disgusting how travellers are treated in this day and age.
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The travellers need somewhere to live too. Where do people want them to go? They are stopping on derelict land. If the council clears the rubbish away it seems this would stop the majority of the complaints.
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Travellers have been discriminated against for too long, it seems to be socially acceptable which is totally wrong in this day and age. If people approach travellers without racist views to begin with, they would discover just how nice travellers really are.
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These are good people stopping on the Paget arms. What do people really expect them to do with their rubbish? Pull a magic trick and make it disappear? Get the council out there to clean up.
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It’s time these parasites were moved on. If they so desperately want to live in a pub car park, they should buy the land instead of sponging by living rent free.
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From what I have read it seems the owner of the land has not even made a complaint regarding the gypsys. It’s only the locals living in council owned houses that are complaining.
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No. 7 – You are the parasite with a disgusting racist attitude. If you knew anything about travellers at all, you would know that even when they buy land, the council refuses them permission to build on that land in 99% of cases.
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I live nest to a well known travellers site and they are great people. They have been persecuted throughout history just for being different and it’s time it stopped once and for all.
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For all we know the travellers could be paying rent to the owner of the land, maybe that’s why the owner has not complained to date?
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If i was a taxpayer in Wolverhampton it would anger me to think the council were spending money on cleaning up private land. The money should be spent cleaning their own land.
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Great to hear all the positive comments on romany gypsies. Maybe the tide is finally turning.
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Number 12 If it really bothers you that much, stop paying tax, no need to take your frustration out on the travellers.
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The thing that shocks me is that the landowner has not even complained. Does this really deserve an article in a newspaper? If the locals concentrated more on people starving worldwide and stopping the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq the world would be a much better place.
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Number 14 – If you read my comment i have not mentioned the travellers and im certainly not having a go at them.Also im not complaining about paying my taxes.
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Reading the article it seems it is the council trying to force the land owner to take action rather than the land owner having any issues with travellers on his/her land.
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