A group of travellers who had camped on land adjacent to the A34 Alderley Edge bypass have moved on but they have left the area in a disgraceful state.
We were first informed about the travellers' camp by one of our members on Monday, 25th July. He had notified Cheshire East Council who said they would be sending a team there that day to do a 'mandatory welfare assessment'.
Community wardens at Cheshire East Council served notice to quit the land on Friday, 29th July, giving the travellers until Thursday to move on.
The travellers had come from Chelford, where I believe they had taken up residence in the village hall car park, and moved off the land near the bypass this Thursday, 4th August.
I went down to have a look at the camp on Friday afternoon and can only describe what I saw as a complete mess. As shown in the photos above, the area was covered in of piles rubbish, the grass verge is now mud, a number of trees have been pulled down and dozens of guards which were protecting the newly planted trees have been pulled up and were lying around the camp.
Presumably Cheshire East Council are left to tidy up after them, meaning us taxpayers will have to pick up the bill, which will be a fair ammount if all the damaged trees are replaced.
Comments
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Waiting to hear how wonderful these people are and how we must respect their 'human rites'
sic.
How come these "travellers" can just come and plonk themselves down anywhere they like. The next stage is for them to claim all the state benefits available to them (whilst possibly working tax-free in the black-economy) then moving on when things start hotting-up with the Local Council. Once departed, we (the Council tax-payers) are left to clear up their mess.
Oh yes .... I forgot to mention that their "Human Rights" should be respected .... But what about the majority of the law-abiding, over-taxed, overlooked and marginalised Council tax-payers ???
What I dont understand is why the area was so easy to access in the first place? The council should have put up bollards to prevent this happening.
Also we passed the travellers when they first arrived with their dogs and horses and their caravans where extremely small - I believe they were just on holiday and probably live in houses somewhere and claim all the usual benefits etc. Lets hope they have gone back now!
The Council are currently assessing the damage and said that any remedial work will be arranged as required.
They also said that measures to improve the security of the site will be considered in an attempt to prevent unauthorised access in the future and the costs of this work is unknown at this stage.
I noticed on my morning dog walk that council workers were cleaning the site this morning. I think its going to take a lot more than a few black bin bags though! I walked via the footpath through to the Golf Club and the mess around the footpath is strewn with wet wipes and toilet rolls (obviously they used this area as a toilet) I hope the council will clear this area also as it is a health hazard.
The fine the travellers were given was actually dumped on the golf course - together with a half drunk bottle of Magners cider (or at least thats what we think was in it!).
I hope it all gets back to normal soon.