Travellers get moving from Cross Heath site after court hearing
A GROUP of travellers has been ordered to leave a site earmarked for a new housing development.
A convoy of caravans arrived at the plot off Wilmot Road, Cross Heath, six weeks ago to set up camp.
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SITE: The land off Wilmot Road.
Families in the area said the travellers had become a nuisance after lighting fires, dumping litter and using the site as a toilet.
Now they have been forced to leave following a ruling by a judge at Stoke-on-Trent County Court.
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Aspire Housing applied for a court order forcing the group to immediately leave the site, which has been earmarked for regeneration.
Some 166 homes were demolished in the area under a scheme led by the now defunct regional development agency Renew North Staffordshire.
A total of 117 properties are set to be built on the land by Barratt Homes in a £12.5 million scheme.
Aspire wants to rent out 29 of the homes.
The travellers are believed to have anticipated yesterday's court ruling and left before they were formally evicted.
Residents say they are pleased the unwelcome visitors have gone.
But some fear the land will be targeted by gypsies again, with three separate groups having set up camps on the site since Christmas.
Wilmot Drive resident Paul Yates, aged 45, said: "We had six caravans turn up first, before another three came.
"It was these three that we had all the trouble with.
"Some of them were working as tree surgeons I think, and they are the ones who have been dumping all the rubbish.
"But it's worse than that. They've been using the area as a toilet.
"You see them coming out of their caravans with little pink toilet rolls and just bending down in front of you.
"You're there having your Sunday dinner and there are people going to the toilet right in front of your house. It's disgusting."
Mr Yates's partner Jane Cook, aged 36, said: "Their dogs are barking all day and their generators run all day and all night.
"The kids were being cheeky to people. You couldn't go and walk your dog on there.
"A friend on the road said they'd had people in their back garden trying to steal a bike. We're very pleased they've gone."
Sixty-three-year-old retired cleaner Glenise Allsopp, of nearby Rogers Avenue, said: "They've never been any bother to me but I don't agree with the mess they make.
"They've got dogs and they've made a mess of the area. Some people walk across the field to get to work and they couldn't do that with all the caravans there."
At the court hearing, District Judge Lawrence Schroeder said: "The legal position is that they have no right to be there."
A spokesman for the housing association said: "We are pleased that the order has been granted and can confirm that the legal process to formally close the roads is currently underway to make the land inaccessible to vehicles."
Comments
by E_D_Wivens
Thursday, June 21 2012, 5:15PM
“let 'em come and live next to you, Tone, see how you feel about them then.”
by Tonyjohnt
Thursday, June 21 2012, 5:52AM
“The local Christians say to me
You lower the price of property.
Born here or a thousand miles away,
There's always folk nearby who'll say
Move along, Get along, go! Move! Shift!!!”
by knee_trembler
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 9:57PM
“Let me get this straight. Tree fellers, with pink toilet roll, are dumping logs......?”
by dev_knutton
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 7:32PM
“Sorry to see the back of the travellers. They've been falling over themselves with offers to tarmac my drive. However, they should be made to clean up after themselves. I've never seen so much lucky lace......not to mention all the pegs.”
by Thomas_Tank
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 5:53PM
“Notanumber is correct. it's wilmot drive, not wilmot road. i commented on a story on here on saturday about a shop which got robbed and it said the shop was in sandbach when its actually in alsager.
is it any wonder the sentinels sales are plummeting when their journalists cant even get the basic facts right??”
by Notanumber
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 3:25PM
“Should this article really say Wilmot Drive? If not , someone tell me where Wilmot Road is? We have a really big grass fire down there today. Mysuspicion is that someone has set the rubbish alight to get rid of it”
by Focus386
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 2:50PM
“Aspire are past masters of the spin and promise game...they dole out the spin with great promises every year and every year the tenants are left waiting....”
by valiant1
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 2:43PM
“How long has Wilmot been like this Aspire!!! You are having a laugh...”
by Focus386
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 1:55PM
“Earmarked for new housing development, oh make me laugh...Just another publcity stunt by Aspire housing...mkae lots of promises and deliever nothing to the tenants who pay rent...Why did you knock down 166 and plan to build 117, that makes good sense..”