Anger as travellers left alone on site for two weeks
MORE THAN 12 CARAVANS OUTSIDE FIRM
TRAVELLERS who have parked up outside a major Huddersfield firm have been left alone for almost TWO WEEKS by council officials, it is claimed.
A reluctance to evict more than a dozen caravans outside the headquarters of FMG in the business park off Bradley Road, in Bradley, has angered residents and employees of the firm.
The encampment began on July 24 but there has been no court order applied for to move the travellers on, concerned residents have been told.
The Examiner understands that two workers at FMG has been bitten by a dog owned by the travellers. The firm has declined to confirm it.
A Bradley resident who lives nearby, who does not want to be named, said they and FMG had been pushing the council for action as the road up to Broad Lea House, the former NHS facility, is a public road.
But they have been told evictions were currently being discouraged due to Covid-19.
A letter from
Clr
Harpreet Uppal to a different resident, who also does not want to be named, confirms the reluctance to act.
It says: “The council do normally start legals proceedings in these sort of situations, particularly where they can’t come to an agreement with the travellers to move on, but currently evictions are being discouraged due to Covid-19.
“One of the wider issues is that we don’t have enough authorised traveller sites across the Borough and the country and we really do need to improve on this.”
The encampment, alongside FMG’s parking spaces, came shortly after the travellers were moved on for blocking up Dyson Wood Way, hampering a
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A local resident told the Examiner the adjacent footpaths linking Bradley Road with the ancient woods had become the travellers’ toilet area.
The exasperated woman, who did not want to be named, said: “Somebody’s got to do something.
“They can’t just blame Covid-19.”
Police visited the site yesterday morning but it is not clear why.
Kirklees Council was approached for comment.