Outraged councillors and residents shared their experiences of travellers in Luton at a heated council meeting on Monday.
They spoke of travellers defecating in full view of children, causing criminal damage and intimidating local residents.
The council’s executive committee agreed to a crackdown on illegal encampments, and vowed to adopt a policy of ‘immediate eviction’, which is currently applied in Herts and Central Beds.
However they said that without the support of police it was difficult to act effectively, and expressed concern that the law was not enforced by police when it came to travellers.
Wigmore Councillor Peter Chapman spoke about when travellers were in Wigmore recently and said: “People were effectively trapped in their homes, not able to go out because they were so intimidated. There was serious damage to the area. It seems priority is given to the travellers and assessing their needs. Nobody assessed the residents’ needs, nobody asked how they were.”
He said after a recent lengthy eviction process, travellers in Colwell Rise drove round the corner to Hedley Rise and set up camp there instead, and the whole process had to start again.
Councillor Sian Timoney said: “In Stockwood Park travellers got through four different security measures. Police are the only ones who can take the action we need to take. Olly (Martins) says it’s a council issue but police can take other action and we have seen them do it when they want to.”
Speaking after the meeting, Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire Olly Martins said: “Beds Police, the council and my office have been working together closely on other issues in Luton such as the sex trade in High Town and serious violence in Luton. The partnership is well established, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to me the sort of megaphone diplomacy we have seen with this problem.
“This is a complex issue which needs to be talked about properly rather than on Twitter. I wasn’t invited to the meeting, my office hasn’t been contacted. All I’ve been told is a Twitter exchange with Councillor Timoney. We need to sit down round the table rather than engaging in megaphone diplomacy.”
He said if people could provide dates and times of when the law had not been enforced he would look into it.
The executive agreed the council would arrange a meeting with MPs and the police to discuss the matter.
The Travellers Hotline for residents to report illegal encampments, which was slammed for its “unacceptable service” , will also be reviewed.
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