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Warley Woods park gates shut to combat travellers

Bosses at Warley Woods have been forced to close the gates at night again due to worries over an influx of travellers.

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The move comes as the gates at the Abbey Road beauty spot were reopened in February after five months of being closed – with volunteers manning them at certain times.

But now bosses at the woods say that they will remain shut for the next month while 'proper intelligence' is sought from Sandwell Council.

Warley Woods Community Trust manager Viv Cole said: "We have just had so many reports of travellers in the area that on a precautionary basis we will be shutting the gates for a month.

"We were lucky to be able to have volunteers come down and help us reopen the gates in February but we currently know that there are three or four groups in the area so it's hard to be on guard all the time.

"We now want to work alongside the local authority to get some proper intelligence instead of just relying on members of the public to tell us if they see travellers close by."

In September last year staff and visitors to the popular woods sprang into action to block travellers attempting to get on the site.

A long stand-off took place and police had to be called before they eventually agreed to leave.

Visitors who had gone to the 100-acre nature reserve to walk their dogs found their cars blockaded in by the caravans during the stand-off and had to wait until the matter was resolved to leave.

Ms Cole said: "Following the stand-off we had between them and us last September we didn't want to go through that again.

"The great thing is we had 300 members of the public come down onto the meadow and tell them not to come onto the site.

"But after something like that happens it just doesn't leave you feeling confident.

"Although it's slightly sad that we have to have them shut at the minute we hope it will only be temporary."

Action was taken back in 2014 to boost security at the site following a rise in complaints about anti-social behaviour.

Fears were raised particularly over groups driving into the woods after dark and causing a nuisance by playing loud music. Police began closing the gates off Abbey Road on some nights to prevent cars from accessing the site after dark.

A team of volunteers was recruited to take on the task of opening the gates up to visitors during the day from February.

They remained open until 7pm each day, providing access to the car park, but were still closed overnight.

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