Inner-city area ‘not posh enough to get protection from travellers’
A RESIDENT aiming to protect her neighbourhood park from travellers thinks her plea for help was rejected by Birmingham City Council because “we are seen as not being posh enough”.
Dawn McGhie, 56, claims the city council’s failure to seek legal measures to prevent more camps setting up at Calthorpe Park is “unfair”.
Her local councillor Zhor Malik went further, branding the inaction “a total disgrace”.
Dawn said: “I can’t help thinking that it’s because we are seen as not posh enough.
“There are injunctions in place for parks in Selly Oak and Sarehole Mill but I think they don’t believe Balsall Heath is posh enough and we should just put up with it.
“They say we need to tolerate it because there are no permanent traveller parks nearby.
“By not taking out an injunction they are telling travellers it’s OK to come here but not OK to go to these other parks. That is wrong.”
Cllr Malik, who represents Balsall Heath, added: “Residents see action taken in other areas and not here, so naturally they question why that should be. It would seem one area is treated as a priority, another is treated with disdain.”
Calthorpe Park has endured eight large traveller encampments in the past two years.
“The most recent group of about 40 caravans set up in the run-up to the World Cup cricket clash between England and Australia in June.
“The camp was quickly moved on ahead of the high-profile TV clash at Edgbaston.
That speedy action by the council has also triggered more questions, said Cllr Malik.
“The council was able to act quickly on that occasion and move them on in two days, but on other occasions we have had camps here for days and days.
“It begs the question why
they could take action so quickly then, when there was likely pressure from the cricket club, but not when it is just ordinary residents asking for help.”
He added that he received regular reports of anti social behaviour from residents, including stone throwing, theft and threatening behaviour, when the camps were on site.
A Birmingham City Council spokeswoman said: “While some parks in the city have an injunction preventing travellers’ camps setting up, these have been obtained following an application to the High Court where the city council has to prove significant levels of anti-social behaviour from the encampment.
“The reason we have not applied for an injunction for Calthorpe Park is that we don’t have enough evidence that meets the threshold for the court to extend the current injunction to this park.
“To be successful in an application for Calthorpe Park we would need support from members of the community, with significant numbers of statements detailing levels of ‘harassment, alarm or distress’ caused by the encampment.
“Unfortunately, we do not have this level of evidence.”