£100,000 fund to tackle problem travellers in Walsall

It will include setting up barriers at key sites over the coming months to stop groups from gaining access.

It comes after the Council secured a landmark injunction last week allowing them to swiftly move travellers on from certain sites, including Delves Common, within 24 hours.

Councillor Sean Coughlan, the leader of the council, made the £100,000 pledge in an open letter to Aldridge and Brownhills MP Wendy Morton.

Councillor Coughlan said the money would be put up 'because local people deserve this support'.

The borough has been plagued by travellers over recent years, leading up the recent injunction obtained from the county court which restricts the setting up of encampments or anti social behaviour at 12 specific sites, including Delves Green Common.

In his open letter, councillor Coughlan addressed the scale of the problem and what can be done to tackle it.

He said: "The Council is well aware of the problems caused to local people across the borough.

"We have obtained an injunction against anyone who wishes to engage in anti-social behaviour across the borough or to set up encampments on any of a dozen named sites.

"Taken together with other measures which will over the coming months be rolled out to introduce physical barriers to key sites, we hope to reduce the impact of unauthorised encampments on local people."

Councillor Coughlan added that despite the councils tough financial position at present, the £100,000 would still be put up to help with the fight against illegal encampments.

He said: "Since 2011 Walsall, one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, has had its core funding reduced by £89.6 million and in recent years the reduction of our workforce by one third.

"Against this very difficult financial situation, the Council will commit around £100,000 this year to measures to reduce unauthorised encampments because local people deserve this support."

The process of moving camps on usually takes three to five days after a court order is granted, however obtaining the recent injunction will make it much quicker to move illegal camps off.

Residents living near Delves Common handed in a petition to Walsall Council last month, which gained more than 1,300 signatures in a week, demanding action be taken to stop travellers pitching up at the beauty spot.

Other sites hit by camps over the last year include Walsall Arboretum, Anchor Meadow Playing Fields and land at Hawthorn Road. Signs will now go up at the 12 sites mentioned in the injunction warning travellers that unless they meet the requirements of a welfare check allowing them to stay on the site, they will have to move along.