Mound will block traveller camps

A hotspot for illegal traveller incursions is going to be blocked off to stop caravans moving on.

Cumberland Avenue in Shepway has been blighted three times this year, with a burnt out caravan, human waste and reams of rubbish left behind.

Next month Maidstone council will create a mound of earth surrounding the green on Cumberland Avenue.

Councillor for Shepway North ward Marion Ring said: “We don’t want to be unwelcoming but it’s a lovely bit of grass and it is for the community.

“It might be a bit of an eyesore at first but I’m giving up some of the budget to pay for trees and plants, by the summer we’ll have nice poppies other plants.

“We don’t want the mess left behind, like everything it is a cost to the council.”

In the past two years caravans have pitched up either on Shepway green or the neighbouring Shepway Community Centre’s car park six times.

Unlike councils in neighbouring Ton- bridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone Borough Council does not record the cost of clearing up individual encampments. Instead the cost is covered under its £1.6million street cleansing budget, however it is considering recording the cost of each clean up in future.

Workers will also install a barrier next month. The work to create the mound and barrier is due to start on December 10 and last until January.

A similar mound has been installed at the foot of Blue Bell Hill, after travellers pitched up on a field next to Old Chatham Road at the start of the month.

Since then the landowner has dug their own mound to prevent vehicles from getting onto the site.