This morning, upon hearing that travellers had moved from Brookfield Park to Park Road Football Field, my office contacted Caroline Simpson, Corporate Director at Stockport Council to ask what action was being taken to evict them.
The Council advised me that the process to assess and remove the travellers from Park Road Football Field had begun. A Council Officer had been on site to assess the situation, and had liaised with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) earlier today.
Later on today, I visited Park Road Football field, where I spoke to local residents and also GMP, who were at the site, having served notice on the travellers to vacate the field by 4pm tomorrow (23rd August).
With the Brookfield park site now vacated, I was able to witness the destruction which had been left behind after travellers had occupied that site for two weeks. It was a disgraceful scene, with the grass churned up, gas canisters lying around, and an abandoned caravan, amongst all the bags of rubbish and waste strewn across a wide area.
The mess which has been left behind for the community to deal with is unacceptable, and if you would like to let me know of any affected areas I am more than happy to chase this up on behalf of constituents with the Council, who have jurisdiction in this area.
This has been a significant ongoing issue, and whilst action has been taken to deal with the current occupations, I will continue to liaise with GMP and the Council as to what measures can be taken to deal with and deter such occupations in the future.
In the meantime, any updates I receive regarding this situation will be added below.
Update: Thursday 24 August
The Council have advised that following the failure to vacate the Park Road site by the 4pm deadline on 23rd August, they are in receipt of a Summons to appear in Court tomorrow afternoon (25th August) to apply for an Order, which they will serve on all the occupants on site as soon as possible with colleagues from GMP.
Update: Friday 25 August
The Council tell me that they are now in receipt of the Court Order which will be served this afternoon, which will give the group of travellers until 4pm tomorrow (26th August) to vacate the site.
I also understand that they have arranged for the on call Charge hand to monitor the site and call the Highways out of hours team once the site is vacated, who will attend to provide a physical temporary highway barrier until a more permanent repair can be made next week.
Update: Tuesday 29th August
Following the failure of the travellers to vacate the land at Park Road over the Bank Holiday weekend, the Council have advised me that they have now recovered the land, and that Solutions SK and Hygiene Action will attend the site as soon as possible to begin the clean up.
The Highways team are also due to attend to put a temporary physical barrier in place, until a more long term permanent solution can be arranged.