A meeting has been held in Burnham-On-Sea to discuss travellers and unauthorised encampments in the town.
The meeting, hosted by the Town Council, was held on Friday 5th September and was chaired by Cllr Sharon Perry. It was attended by MP Ashley Fox, town councillors Cath Searing and Paul Mills, a representative from Somerset Council (with responsibility for Environmental Crime and Compliance) and representatives from the local community.
It comes after multiple encampments of travellers in Burnham over the summer (pictured), including in the Pier Street car park at the back of B&M, where several caravans are sited this week.
Cllr Perry told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “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 on travellers 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.”
MP Ashley Fox said he would take up a number of points 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 noted 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.
A group of travellers remained in Burnham’s Pier Street car park on Monday evening (September 8th) with legal action underway by Somerset Council.
