Update 22nd April:

Yesterday on Bank Holiday Monday, the travellers left the old Showfield.  The site is now secure from further incursion, due to swift action from various parties – well done all. The clear up will cost a fair bit, as there are multiple piles of tree cuttings, domestic waste and assorted things left behind, which have been brought to site over the last 2 weeks. Mendip District Council’s contractors will be clearing the site at our cost, so it is fit for public access and recreation once more, as soon as possible. Council contractors were also called to site yesterday on Bank Holiday Monday (after a local resident alerted me and called the Council’s out of hours phone line) to some piles of human waste left on footpaths, which is not nice, and had to be dealt with as an emergency for health reasons. Some councils have a ‘Code of Conduct for Travellers’ which sets out some basic rules, which the group that were here could not be said to have complied with, including look after the land, do not intimidate or annoy neighbours, leave the site as clean and tidy as it was, do not dump waste. The Showfield is not a camping ground and should not be used as such. I will try to work with all parties to ensure that this does not happen again.

Update 16th April:

The travellers at the old Showfield, including a few more who arrived a few days ago, have been given the official eviction order (under section 77 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994) by Mendip District Council, and must leave by 4pm tomorrow Thursday 17th April or face legal proceedings to remove them.

Please see here for the new Frome Standard story and here for the previous article.

 

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