Local Businesses in Belstead Hills
Spoke to local businesses and constituents in the Belstead Hills area of Town this afternoon. Last week a large number of travellers illegally parked on the Ellenbrook Green meadow. A section 77 order has now been issued and all have left. I was accompanied by Chantry county councillor Nathan Wilson on my visit.
They arrived middle of last week and a number of issues have been caused. Including significant anti social behaviour problems. So much so that a number of the businesses had to temporarily close their doors.
Though they’ve now left a huge amount litter was left by the travellers and the taxpayer funded council litter team had to sort out the mess.
The response by the authorities was slower than I would have liked I was pleased to hear today that steps have been taken to make it physically impossible for the travellers to get back on the meadow.
I’m going to have a sit down with all local players to try and ensure a robust strategy is in place to deal with these sorts of issues.
The local residents and businesses shouldn’t have had to put up with all of this. As many of you will know, when it comes to these sorts of matters I adopt a robust and no nonsense attitude. We should clamp down hard on travellers behaving in this way. No one is above the law and if you behave in an illegal way that has a detrimental impact on others you should be punished. I will never accept my constituents being intimidated in the way many have over the past week.
The Government have brought in new laws to better allow local authorities to do this but they need to be used effectively.
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