Harefield Gazette

Travellers evicted from Lidl site again

Rubbish has to be cleared before building starts

- By Amita Joshi amita.joshi@trinitymir­ror.com

THE Hayes Lidl site was the centre of police activity once again after travellers set up camp at the spot on Sunday January 29.

Metropolit­an Police was called to the former swimming pool site in Central Avenue on the day after Hillingdon Council were alerted.

The travellers left on the morning of Wednesday February 1.

A nearby resident spoke to getwestlon­don and claimed the travellers had “smashed their way in”.

She said: “Let’s hope they don’t do the same again and fill it with more rubbish, still trying to get rid of the large rats from the last lot of rubbish they left.”

A spokesman for the police confirmed the boarded-up area was damaged in order for the group to enter.

A council official for Hillingdon said: “Hillingdon Council has a zero tolerance approach to invasions of its land or property, and our security and enforcemen­t teams deal with these matters as quickly as possible to protect the interests of residents.

“We worked closely with the police to tackle the issue of travellers at the Lidl grounds in Hayes, and all travellers left the site [on February 1].”

It is not the first time the site has been occupied by travellers.

In May 2016, around 40 caravans were seen camped up in the car park of the boarded-up swimming pool site.

Lidl took legal action against the travellers and got the evicted.

Work to clear the site of piles of rubbish began at the beginning of January.

On January 10 a Lidl spokesman said encampmnt confirmed the land was being cleared of the rubbish that had been dumped on it which the supermarke­t thought would take three weeks. Constructi­on was due to start this month.

 ??  ?? PILED UP: Avenue Rubbish previously left at the Lidl site, a former swimming pool in Hayes’ Central
PILED UP: Avenue Rubbish previously left at the Lidl site, a former swimming pool in Hayes’ Central
 ??  ?? DESIGN: Work at the Lidl site in Hayes is due to begin this month
DESIGN: Work at the Lidl site in Hayes is due to begin this month

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