Gransnet forums

News & politics

Another traveller illegal traveller site, poor neighbours.

(44 Posts)
Sago Tue 22-Sept-26 08:55:18

Another illegal traveller site has appeared in Worcestershire.

The council have put a stop notice in place but it has been ignored, the area has been laid to tarmac and is home to 10 caravans.

Fortunately where I live there are no areas of land that could be accessed in this way.

Our daughter and SIL had a listed house surrounded by their land and some who nobody was sure who it belonged to.
They dreaded coming home from holiday to find their home surrounded by caravans.

They applied for some planning and had to spend thousands of pounds on bat surveys, get English Heritage approval yet someone could have driven in and laid a field to tarmac and parked a dozen caravans overnight.

It is literally one rule for us and another for the travellers.

When are the Police and local councils going to put a stop to this?

It’s so sad for people whose homes are affected.

MayBee70 Tue 22-Sept-26 12:24:55

Going off at a tangent here as I am prone to doing but can I just say my partner has new neighbours ( semi detached house so there is an adjoining wall). Both retired doctors. And they are a complete nightmare. Ever since they moved in we’ve said we’d be better off with neighbours that seemed a bit rough round the edges. I do understand peoples concerns about traveller sites though; I know the crime rate goes up in my area when there are travellers around. One of my dearest friends is a traveller. There are good and bad in all parts of society.

Fallingstar Tue 22-Sept-26 12:26:15

MT62

I think the people living in the HMOS are just as bad with the amount of crap they leave on the back & side streets.
They all want leaflets on how to dispose, recycle their rubbish.
Could add to that list how to hang a pair of curtains.

I do agree with that.
Was all for more rights for tenants because of rogue landlords, but not all landlords are the same and am afraid some tenants do treat their living space with scant regard for where they plonk their old mattresses and fridge freezers etc., goodness only knows how the interiors of their living space looks like.
Then I presume the landlord has to completely refurbish the place or sell it. But the government has made it harder for them to do this now.

Cossy Tue 22-Sept-26 15:17:58

MT62

I think the people living in the HMOS are just as bad with the amount of crap they leave on the back & side streets.
They all want leaflets on how to dispose, recycle their rubbish.
Could add to that list how to hang a pair of curtains.

Some people in some HMO’s.

We have a fair amount of HMOs partially I think due to being a big seaside town and there’s been “bedsits”, as we used to call them, for decades and decades.

My DD and DiL’s very recently purchased home, is a nice semi, with the half attached to them being an HMO.

Driveway pretty clear, front of the house needs painting, curtains not very thick, but no rubbish and little noise and no one out the front gathering.

Let’s hope this stays this way.

Many people now living in HMOs simply cannot afford the ridiculous private rents the South East now commands and are working.

Cossy Tue 22-Sept-26 15:18:43

Having said that, anyone renting should treat their properties with respect.

Casdon Tue 22-Sept-26 15:24:33

Sarnia

Smileless2012

It would take days to lay tarmac, even longer if the area was the size of a field confused.

They are shrewd. The larger fields are often tarmacked over a Bank Holiday weekend when offices are shut for 3-4 days.

They have recently taken over several sports sites in Wales, but they don’t tarmac, they go in at night, and park their vans on the carpark, which is already tarmac or gravel, using the pitches as overflow for the dogs, washing, etc. I’m surprised to hear they have actually put tarmac down elsewhere, because of the cost when they know they will be moved on.

Doodledog Tue 22-Sept-26 15:25:28

Was all for more rights for tenants because of rogue landlords, but not all landlords are the same and am afraid some tenants do treat their living space with scant regard for where they plonk their old mattresses and fridge freezers etc., goodness only knows how the interiors of their living space looks like.
Then I presume the landlord has to completely refurbish the place or sell it. But the government has made it harder for them to do this now.
How has the government made it harder for landlords to refurbish or sell?

I agree that tenants should treat the property with respect, but they can still be evicted if they don't.

sundowngirl Tue 22-Sept-26 15:31:00

Getting a tenant evicted takes so long and if they are not paying rent during that time, extremely costly. Some landlords are finding it cheaper to pay thousands to the tenant to leave.
The pendulum has swung too far the other way

Doodledog Tue 22-Sept-26 16:06:58

sundowngirl

Getting a tenant evicted takes so long and if they are not paying rent during that time, extremely costly. Some landlords are finding it cheaper to pay thousands to the tenant to leave.
The pendulum has swung too far the other way

That needs to be dealt with. Maybe an independent tribunal could be set up so that if a landlord wants to evict someone a neutral body can adjudicate? They should have powers to get compensation from rogue tenants if they damage property, and also to protect them from rogue landlords.

I don't know if that would work, but equally, I still can't see how the government has made it impossible for landlords to refurbish or sell their properties.

Sarnia Tue 22-Sept-26 16:16:06

Casdon

Sarnia

Smileless2012

It would take days to lay tarmac, even longer if the area was the size of a field confused.

They are shrewd. The larger fields are often tarmacked over a Bank Holiday weekend when offices are shut for 3-4 days.

They have recently taken over several sports sites in Wales, but they don’t tarmac, they go in at night, and park their vans on the carpark, which is already tarmac or gravel, using the pitches as overflow for the dogs, washing, etc. I’m surprised to hear they have actually put tarmac down elsewhere, because of the cost when they know they will be moved on.

Where I live it takes forever and a day to move them on. My county has no travellers sites so they use that to their advantage saying they have to provide for themselves as they cannot move on for various reasons.
Like many other things it is the minority who cause the problems then tar the others with the same brush. Some fields have been trashed and strewn with rubbish while some they have been on you wouldn't know they had been there.

petra Tue 22-Sept-26 16:26:17

MT62

I think the people living in the HMOS are just as bad with the amount of crap they leave on the back & side streets.
They all want leaflets on how to dispose, recycle their rubbish.
Could add to that list how to hang a pair of curtains.

If you move into an HMO chances are the previous occupants have left stuff there.
More than likely your landlord won’t help to dispose of this unwanted property. That would cost him 🤬
Chances are you have no transport to take said stuff to the tip.
Now the offending curtains.
More than likely if you end up in a HMO you’ve never been shown how to hang them.
Opposite me there are 2 teachers. Obviously nobody has shown them how to hang curtains or clear the crap from the front garden.

MT62 Tue 22-Sept-26 16:28:10

My dear friend, 80s, now terminally ill has 4 HMOs on her street, either side of her. Rest are normal rented properties.
Her gated back street was always well looked after. Plants pots & wall grown flowers, a View right over the town & countryside, stunning.

Blokes next door constantly smoking weed- I kid you not permeates through her walls.
HMOs next door but one, burn stuff in a large oil drum, yanking away in their native tongue into the early hours.
Council don’t want know.
She said she would be tempted to commit suicide if she wasn’t on her way out, as she said she just feels trapped.
I could cry for her.
Every little street around her way is like that.
I can see a huge change in as little as 18 months.

MT62 Tue 22-Sept-26 16:36:50

I’ve heard these landlords get offered large sums of money to turn these rented houses into HMOs. Also that they get new appliances as well.
I don’t know how true that is.
If it is, maybe that’s why you see a lot of old appliances dumped on the back street.
If they are getting permission to turn into these into an HMO, maybe the council needs to go up & down in their cleansing trucks and pick up this crap that’s being left lying outside.
Not only that, I would have thought it is a danger to young kids playing out.

Casdon Tue 22-Sept-26 17:16:34

Sarnia

Casdon

Sarnia

Smileless2012

It would take days to lay tarmac, even longer if the area was the size of a field confused.

They are shrewd. The larger fields are often tarmacked over a Bank Holiday weekend when offices are shut for 3-4 days.

They have recently taken over several sports sites in Wales, but they don’t tarmac, they go in at night, and park their vans on the carpark, which is already tarmac or gravel, using the pitches as overflow for the dogs, washing, etc. I’m surprised to hear they have actually put tarmac down elsewhere, because of the cost when they know they will be moved on.

Where I live it takes forever and a day to move them on. My county has no travellers sites so they use that to their advantage saying they have to provide for themselves as they cannot move on for various reasons.
Like many other things it is the minority who cause the problems then tar the others with the same brush. Some fields have been trashed and strewn with rubbish while some they have been on you wouldn't know they had been there.

There is something in what you say about the permanent sites I think, certainly since we’ve had one, which poses no issues locally, we have had much less of a problem with other travellers occupying lay-bys etc. it’s a settled camp for one group only, so other travellers can’t pitch up there, but the group that are there have historic links to the area, which maybe means that others have less of a claim to come here, so they don’t bother.

David49 Tue 22-Sept-26 17:35:26

If the one of the travellers owns the land it's very hard to move them, they move in over a holiday weekend when the council is closed with diggers, lay the tarmac and erect gates. It's all orchestrated

Next week they put in a retrospective planning application, and fight it all the way legally, the chances are they will win because the council hasnt got anywhere else to put them.

After a few years of being bad neighbours the actual owner applies for planning permission for development, all the locals back the application and he makes millions. Then the travellers move to the next unfortunate locality.

MT62 Tue 22-Sept-26 17:38:36

Cossy

Having said that, anyone renting should treat their properties with respect.

Yes. Most don’t though.
My mum when first married said the woman next door wouldn’t put a brush to the floor as it was rented.
Did they call it a let back in the 60s

butterandjam Tue 22-Sept-26 18:08:15

Peacelilydilly

One rule for them another rule for the rest of us. Human rights again angry

<www.travellerstimes.org.uk/features/build-first-ask-later-what-englands-new-planning-rules-really-mean-gypsies-and-travellers>

quote

“Everyone should play by the same rules” is often heard in this debate. Fine — but equality before the planning system cannot mean only enforcing rules against Gypsies and Travellers.

If families are expected to use authorised sites, councils must genuinely plan for authorised sites. If Travellers are expected to respect the development plan, the development plan must include them."

MT62 Tue 22-Sept-26 18:31:21

I know it’s a shame for these people, any one of us could find our circumstances changing, & end up in one.
I remember the crash in the 80s which started in America. Families having to live in tents.

Yes I hope it all stays quiet for your family.

MT62 Tue 22-Sept-26 18:43:48

There is a site up by our local cemetery. Wall up & gates. I think they are more like statics.
You know what they are because of the horses heads stuck to on top of the wall.
My mum’s friend lives at the top of the street, she said they very respectful towards her when passing.