New powers for police to curb blight of illegal traveller camps

NEW laws will make it easier to prosecute travellers who set up illegal camps.

Police will be able to arrest anyone suspected of ‘intentional trespass’ and seize their vehicles if they refuse to move on.

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s tough measures will apply to trespassers on both private land and public spaces such as village greens and school playing fields, it is understood.

A Home Office source said the legislation, to be included in a Criminal Justice Bill in weeks, will speed up the process of removing unauthorised camps.

Currently, most cases of trespass are not a criminal offence and unauthorised camps are dealt with as civil matters. Only ‘aggravated trespass’ can lead to arrest, and is difficult to prove.

Under the proposals, travellers who ignore a landowner’s request to move their vehicles on will face arrest under ‘intentional trespass’ laws carrying a three-month maximum prison sentence

‘Disruption and distress for millions’

or a fine of up to £2,500, or both. The Home Office source said: ‘We are delivering on our manifesto commitment to crack down on the blight of unauthorised encampments.

‘These camps cause distress and disruption for millions of people right across the country, so it’s right we are giving the police the powers they need to bring this to an end.’

It is understood police will be able to use the powers where intruders are causing ‘significant damage, disruption or distress’, such as ‘interference with utility supplies, excessive noise pollution, or litter’. It will not apply to ‘unintentional instances of trespass, such as by ramblers and walkers’, sources said.

The Home Office is expected to reveal full details of the changes next week when it publishes responses to a consultation exercise. The law change was first mooted by Sajid Javid in 2019.

There are an estimated 3,100 caravans on unauthorised sites – around 14 per cent of the total of 22,600 on all sites.