Over recent months, Calderdale residents have been affected by a wave of traveller groups that have made accessing our public spaces impossible.
Statistics have shown that the number of unauthorised traveller pitches had increased by 41% from January 2010 to January 2020. Cracking down on this antisocial behaviour from people who are causing misery by setting up illegal camps and refusing to remove their vehicles, delivers on a key government manifesto commitment.
As such, it has been a major aim to find a way to protect our green spaces to ensure that local residents have full access to these places that were designed for them to enjoy, particularly over these summer months.
Recently, both myself and the rest of the Conservative group in Calderdale have been fighting for a solution to this problem. Several months ago, we launched a campaign to resolve this issue for Calderdale residents. After months of campaigning locally and with colleagues in Parliament, we have finally seen a sustainable solution put into place.
Recently, Parliament have passed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 which gives police across England and Wales new powers to limit the harms caused by such unauthorised encampments.
Police will now be able to ban trespassers from returning to a patch of land for a year, rather than just three months and the definition of harm will be broadened, so that police can take more decisive action to tackle unauthorised encampments when necessary. They will be able to intervene where unauthorised encampments are causing environmental damage or distress to the community – not just the landowner.
Under the new guidance, the harms potentially caused by unauthorised encampments could include – but are not limited to – instances where:
- there is excessive littering, noise or smell – including from bonfire smoke
- a local resident is verbally abused or intimidated, or fears leaving their house to avoid walking past an encampment
- local communities are prevented from accessing sports fields, parks or car parks
- property on the land, or the land itself has been damaged – including farmland
Due to the new definition, will also be able to remove people squatting in buildings such as the former William Holt Greengrocers in Hebden Bridge town centre, about which, I have received many complaints from local residents.
No one should have unchecked rights to trespass on other people’s land, or cause misery in our local communities without consequence. Illegal encampments cause misery for thousands of people: they damage and pollute environments and often result in local residents facing unacceptable intimidation on their own doorstep. Delivering on our manifesto commitments, we will always stand on the side of the law-abiding majority and on the side of the police.