A closed-down pub in Wolverhampton which was taken over by travellers more than eight weeks ago could be demolished, it emerged today.

It has been stripped of metal and almost gutted.

Angry residents living near to the locally-listed Paget Arms building in Park Lane, Bushbury, have been demanding action since eight caravans pulled on to the car park in May.

The land has become strewn with rubbish, carrier bags, bottles, cans, black bags, rubble and clothes.

Councillors said metal guttering, lead flashing and fittings had been stripped from the pub and heavy wooden doors ripped from their frames. Residents say dogs are also running around the site.

Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett, chairman of Wolverhampton City Council’s planning committee, said today: “It is in an appalling state.

“All of the metal has been ripped from the roof and anything of any value at all stripped out.

“In my opinion it is going to have to come down because of this. It is in a terrible state.”

City council chiefs said they were pressing the owner of the site to take steps to to remove the travellers, but cannot intervene themselves and speed the process up because the land is privately owned.

And police claim they do not have powers to move the travellers because they had received no formal complaints from the site owner.

West Midlands Police spokeswoman Catherine Preece, who said she believed the pub was earmarked for demolition, said: “We are aware that members of the travelling community have been staying on land which forms part of the now disused Paget Arms pub.

“As this is private land, police are unable to remove people from the site.

“Police have been informed of damage that has been caused to the building, however, the owners of the site have not reported any criminal damage or activity.

“Patrols in the area have been increased in an effort to prevent any anti-social behaviour or breach of the peace for local residents.”

The travellers relocated to the site after leaving land in Showell Road, Bushbury, and another privately owned site they decided to abandon.

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.

The old Paget 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. Recently it emerged that around £65,000 of taxpayers’ cash had been spent dealing with travellers who had illegally set up camp in Wolverhampton over the past two years. The cost is due to obtaining eviction orders and cleaning up after convoys have left sites across the city.

Last year travellers invaded council land 10 times as well as six further occasions on private plots. The average cost each time to get them removed was today placed at around £2,500. The council spent in the region of £25,000 on the problem in 2008, while private landowners forked out around £15,000.

In 2007 travellers illegally moved into the city 39 times – 16 times on council-owned property and 23 on private sites.