21/08/2017 – Travellers on Walton Road Recreation Ground

We have received numerous enquiries from residents who are concerned about the unwelcome arrival of the travellers at Walton Road Recreation ground. MRA Councillors alerted senior officers at Elmbridge Borough Council on 16 August, the day the travellers arrived, and have been working closely with the officers to secure their eviction as soon as possible.

There have been a number of similar incursions throughout the Borough recently, and the Council must follow an established procedure for dealing with them. As a first step the Council’s Gypsy & Traveller Liaison Officer visited the site to carry out an assessment, as required under the legal protocol for dealing with unauthorised gypsy & traveller sites. and on 17 August the Council served the intruders with a Notice of direction to leave by the end of the day under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

As they did not leave in compliance with this Notice, the Council applied for a removal order from the Magistrates Court. The Council was granted the first available hearing for 23 August by Guildford Magistrates Court, and at this hearing the Court will consider the Council’s application for an order for the removal of the travellers and their vehicles.

Assuming this application is successful application, the travellers will be served with a removal order which will authorise the Council (and agents contracted on the Council’s behalf) to remove them from the land. A full clear up of the site will be scheduled for as soon as the site is secured.

Unfortunately the legal process takes a little time, but we hope the situation will be resolved soon.

Councillor Mike Axton

Molesey Residents Association

Published on Monday, August 21st, 2017
in General Interest