Travellers break through barrier at conservation area

TRAVELLERS have moved onto land at Silver Lane, Risley near Warrington – after apparently breaking through  a barrier erected at a cost of £8,000 last year.
About three vehicles are on the site – formerly a landfill site but now landscaped as a nature conservation area.
The move has angered borough councillor Sue Bland (pictured) who actually alerted police to the incursion while it was happening.
She said: “I received a ‘phone call from a nearby resident to tell me that vehicles had arrived and some men were looking at the barrier.
“Next thing, while I was still on the ‘phone, my contact told me the men were breaking through the barrier.
“I called the police straight away and told them what was happening.  I told them to get down there straight away as they would be able to catch them in the act of causing criminal damage.
“But it seems they could not get there quickly enough so can’t take action because they have no absolute proof.
“I also contacted the appropriate officer at the borough council and a contact at BIFFA, the waste company who used to operate the site.
“It is so frustrating. If some ordinary Joe Bloggs was to do this, how long would it be before action was taken. But because it is travellers nothing is done.  How do they manage to get away with it?
“Now we have the problem of moving the travellers on – and the barrier will have to be replaced at considerable cost.
“The borough council should get a move on with providing an official transit site for travellers, then they might go there instead, and if they didn’t the police could move them on.”