If public land, then the matter might be dealt with by a local or County Council. When travellers last invaded Tithe Farm recreation ground the Town Council had responsibility to remove them, and they were gone by the next day.
Central Bedfordshire Council are currently working towards satisfying their procedures for an incursion at the old bus link, Parkside Drive:
CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCIL
PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL OF UNAUTHORISED ENCAMPMENTS
In the event of an unauthorised encampment in your locality, please contact Customer Services and Customer Services will inform the Assets Team and an officer will be allocated to progress the internal procedure, which is summarised below:
· Check if the land is owned by CBC Done 19/3/2014
· If so, arrange for a drive-by to confirm exact location Done 19/3/2014
· Instruct bailiffs to undertake initial information-gathering visit eg names, ages, licence plate numbers, expected departure date Done 20/3/2014
· Once bailiff report is received, request health, welfare, education reports to ensure there are no reasons why an eviction proceedings should not proceed. CBC say final welfare report is expected MONDAY 24th MARCH.
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At this point, the police issued a section 61 notice, requiring them to move on by 6pm Sunday 23rd. Travellers have moved from old bus link to Town Council car park on Parkside Drive on the 22nd. Police say section 61 notice still applies to the car park, and they will have to be off by 6pm.
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CBC PROCESS would continue thus:
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At this point, the police issued a section 61 notice, requiring them to move on by 6pm Sunday 23rd. Travellers have moved from old bus link to Town Council car park on Parkside Drive on the 22nd. Police say section 61 notice still applies to the car park, and they will have to be off by 6pm.
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CBC PROCESS would continue thus:
· Once confirmation that proceedings can commence, send statement of case to legal services
· Legal services provide a S77 Removal Direction Notice (Section 77(1) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994), Assets arrange for bailiffs to serve Notice
· Notice served by the bailiffs on the travellers and their vehicles and the bailiffs will return a Notice endorsed by them to say when it was served, which will be used in Court if proceedings get that far
· Encampment has 24 hours to leave and remove all vehicles and belongings
· As soon as possible after departure, environmental services requested to arrange clean up of site
· Ensure local councillors, Parish/Town Councils, originators of the report, Customer Services and Assets colleagues are updated regularly on the status of the encampment.
The average removal time if travellers stay beyond the initial bailiff visit is approximately 3 weeks. If the health, welfare and education reports identify any reasons why the travellers should not be evicted immediately eg young or old persons requiring medical treatment, this may be longer.
CBC must ensure that it carries out the procedure to ensure that should a Court summons be required, it can prove it has complied with the requirements of the Act.
If the arrival of an encampment on CBC – owned land happens over a weekend the process will be actioned as soon as the report is received by Assets Team on the Monday morning.
If the land is not owned by CBC, the Council has no statutory responsibility to remove the encampment – this is the responsibility of the landowner. However, it may be possible for us to issue a Temporary Stop Notice under the INSERT DETAILS OF ACT, 7 days a week.
