A meeting was held on Friday 5th September at Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Town Council offices to discuss travellers and unauthorised encampments in the area. The meeting, chaired by Councillor Sharon Perry, was attended by Sir Ashley Fox, MP, Town Councillors Cath Searing and Paul Mills, a spokesperson for Somerset Council (with responsibility for Environmental Crime and Compliance) and representatives from the local community.
Councillor Perry said, “It was a productive meeting with a wide-ranging discussion. We learnt from the Somerset Council representative that the delay in evicting travellers from the Esplanade this summer was due to a number of factors including the council undertaking its legal duty to address, assess and react to welfare checks, in addition to being bound to a timeline that is a driven by a combination of nationally established legal procedures and the courts scheduling system.
Another difficulty in moving travellers on is the lack of a transit provision within the County. A previous transit site at Westonzoyland was sold off in 2012. Somerset Council are now working to find and commission suitable transit provisions across the county.
The possibility of building physical barriers to prevent access to certain areas was also discussed and this will be taken forward by Town Councillors, in consultation with Somerset Council.
Sir Ashley Fox, MP agreed to take up a number of issues with Somerset Council, the Department of Justice, the Police and Crime Commissioner, and the Home Office in an attempt to improve the procedures and legislation currently in place so that future unauthorised encampments are dealt with as promptly as possible.
It was also reported at the meeting that any incidents of anti-social behaviour need to be reported immediately to the police so that they can build up evidence of the impact on the local community and traders.
A further meeting will be arranged in November to review progress on the actions that were agreed at the meeting.