Travellers leave mess despite reassurances

5:40pm Thursday 4th September 2008

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RUBBISH has been dumped in a field occupied illegally by travellers - despite their reassurances it would be cleaned up.

Half-a-dozen caravans were parked on the land near the junction of Hughenden Valley Road and Cryers Hill Lane in Hughenden last Thursday.

Residents were anxious for the travellers to leave after another group left rubbish, including human faeces, in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beatuty in May.

The visitors have now packed-up and gone but left mounds of rubbish.

A TV, settee and fridge were among the items left behind.

Just this week one of the travellers said: “We don’t leave mess, we only bring back firewood. We black bag rubbish and leave it by the gate for the council to pick up.

“I came from Glasgow yesterday and there were no sites along the way at all. Other parts of the country drop off a skip and portable loos as some caravans don’t have toilets so they use the hedge.

“Down here they don’t seem to do it. For three years we have been trying to get on to a site. I’ve tried from the bottom of the country to Scotland. I’ve got my name on 30 waiting lists. One particular site has a 15-year-waiting list.”

The land is made up of strips owned by around 60 landowners.