Illegal traveller encampments in Derby: Rocks placed to block travellers from park
Rocks and branches have been placed to prevent illegal traveller encampments at Chester Green in Derby, following heightened community concerns.
Rocks and huge tree branches have been placed alongside a large city park in a bid to stop illegal Traveller encampments.
They can be seen alongside Mansfield Road next to the Chester Green park.
It comes after a petition was launched less than a year ago on the change.org website titled “Install a Bund to protect Chester Green from Illegal Encampments”.
The petition was backed by hundreds with more than 1,000 people signing it.
A bund is similar to a ditch which acts like an embankment or a wall that would make an area of green space impassable if vehicles were to attempt to travel through it. In previous years bunds, or ditches, have been created across Derby to tackle similar problems.
The petition stated that the green “is more than just open parkland” and “serves as an integral part of the community”.
But in recent years council enforcement officers and police have been called out to the park when Travellers have illegally pitched up, sometimes staying at the site for days.
The petition said: “The last ten years has seen a big increase in illegal encampments arriving on Chester Green. These unsolicited settlements with many vehicles travelling on the green, often at speed, disrupt events and limits safe access to the park by residents and other visitors.
“We believe that introducing a bund — an environmentally sensitive, cost-effective protective barrier — along Mansfield Road and part way up Chester Green Road can safeguard our cherished green space from such illegal intrusions.
“The names Chester Green and Little Chester have adorned records since 1495 and 1866 respectively. We owe it to our heritage and to future generations to maintain this sanctuary in its intended state: a safe, clean, welcoming hub for community interactions and celebrations.”
No bund appears to have been set up at this stage but within the last fortnight a number of rocks and thick branches have been seen placed in a long row beside the park facing Mansfield Road.
Councillor Martin Repton, who serves the Chester Green area within the Darley ward, welcomed the changes and said even more measures were to be put in place in the near future.
He said: “Residents of Chester Green have been concerned over a number of years about cars and vans driving across the green and have asked for measures to be put in place to prevent this.
“Their concerns, shared by local councillors, are that vehicles driving across the green pose a real and serious danger to children and residents as well as causing damage.
“We have managed to get some attractive Derbyshire stone boulders from a house building company in Derbyshire free of charge and have placed these along the Mansfield Road edge of the Green. There is still a little more to do to try to make this perimeter secure but hopefully this will be completed over the coming weeks.”
There is currently one permanent Traveller site in Derby which is situated on Russell Street. Last year a Derby City Council meeting heard there were plans in the making to have a new Traveller site in the city.
The city council’s chief planning officer Paul Clark said the authority was looking at various locations across all of Derby. But he said a new permanent site would be on council-owned land and would have 14 pitches.