£10,00 clean-up after travellers
Travellers have landed taxpayers with a £10,000 clean-up bill after leaving piles of rubbish on a Black Country business park.
Travellers have landed taxpayers with a £10,000 clean-up bill after leaving piles of rubbish on a Black Country business park.
But they won't be brought to book for their actions - simply moved on and allowed to set up camp elsewhere.
It will take workmen 10 days to clean up the site at the Castle Gate business park, near to the Showcase Cinema and Black Country Living Museum, after 30 caravans moved in for nearly three weeks.
The group moved out a few days ago after Dudley Council took out an eviction order against them.
Over the past three years the council has had to spend up to £8,000 in legal fees evicting travellers but unlike many other local authorities it says it hasn't had to pay out to tidy up after travellers during that time.
But today luck ran out and a clean-up operation is about to be launched to rid the site of rubbish and dangerous waste, including asbestos and gas cylinders.
The travellers moved on to the land on January 16. To begin with, there were just 10 caravans but by the time they left, council bosses say that the number of vehicles using the site had trebled to around 30.
Police officials say over the last few weeks they have received a number of complaints about anti-social behaviour on the business park.
Council spokesman Phil Parker said: "The site at Castle Gate has been secured with steel fencing costing £2,000.
"A clean-up operation is set to start at the end of the week and it should take up to 10 days to complete.
"It will cost around £8,000. Items such as asbestos, gas cylinders and tyres, which have been dumped, will have to be safely disposed of which makes the cost higher."
Only a couple of weeks ago the Express & Star was told the council hadn't had to pay out any money to tidy up after travellers in the past three years, in a response to a question under the Freedom of Information Act.
But during this time, council bosses say they have had to take enforcement action on eight occasions, costing between £850 and £1,000 each time.
By Helen Cartwright