Travellers given until noon to vacate site

TRAVELLERS have been given until noon today to leave a Cleethorpes field or face being forcibly removed.

North East Lincolnshire Council was yesterday granted a court order to remove the travellers, who set up camp at the former Lindsey School playing fields off Taylor's Avenue at the weekend.

The council applied to Grimsby magistrates for the order after the travellers ignored eviction notices handed to them on Monday.

Although the order came into effect immediately, the council has given the travellers until noon today to leave of their own accord.

The travellers told the Grimsby Telegraph they would be gone by this morning.

Speaking at yesterday's hearing, Eve Richardson-Smith, representing the council, told the court that the travellers were on council land without permission.

A notice giving a direction to leave had been served on Monday and a summons was served the next day.

She said the travellers were still there on Thursday morning – and a formal order was needed to remove them.

Nobody was present in court to object to the application or to make representations.

The order says:

All vehicles and any other property on the land, and all people living there, should be removed from the land immediately.

The council is authorised to take such steps as are reasonably necessary to ensure that this order is complied with immediately.

The travellers' arrival over the weekend caused concern among some local residents. It is believed that a locked gate was lifted off its hinges to gain access to the field, which was not taken on by Cleethorpes Academy when it took over the former Lindsey School building and associated land on the other side of the road.

However, the travellers themselves insist they have caused no problems.

On Monday they told the Telegraph that they had come to Cleethorpes because of family problems in Doncaster, and would be staying for a few days until "things died down".

Yesterday, they said they would be leaving for Wales in the early hours of today. They promised that not a scrap of litter would be left on the site.

One woman, who did not wish to be named, described the council's actions as "wrong" and added: "We are all human."

Council leader Chris Shaw said: "A court order has been granted to remove the small group of travellers from the site off Taylor's Avenue in Cleethorpes. They must leave the site by noon or they will be removed. The council acted immediately to prevent further unauthorised use of this land and used legislation at our disposal to remove the travellers."