James Cleverly accuses travellers of 'gaming the system' amid 'illegal' land grab

Sir James Cleverly has accused travellers of "gaming the system" in an "illegal" land grab.

The Shadow Housing Secretary said a traveller settlement on a four-acre field in Willows Green near Felsted, Essex, was an example of "unauthorised traveller development" in his constituency.

Hours after the council closed for the bank holiday weekend on Friday afternoon, around 30 vehicles, including cars, vans, and several diggers, arrived on the site.

Floodlights and generators were used to build on the site, which neighbours fear could become a "fully fledged caravan park".

In a letter to Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, he said the work in his Braintree constituency was "exploiting the gap in enforcement outside normal working hours".

He added that "by the time that local authority is able to act, the land has already been materially altered".

In a video posted to social media, he declared: "This is why we have got to take action to make sure that building work like this, taking place outside office hours, clearly seeking to game the system, that we are able to take decisive and quick action."

The developed land was sold by a farmer for £125,000 a year ago, who is believed to have then split the land into 10 smaller plots to be sold.

The owner of the land previously applied for planning permission to lay hardstanding for three caravans, but this was refused on April 2.

This, however, did not stop the work, which Sir James said he had "no doubt" a retrospective planning application would be filed for.

One man in his 60s told the Daily Mail: "The field was swamped with vehicles, noise and lights all through the night.

"No doubt by the time the council reopens on Tuesday there will be a fully-fledged caravan park opposite our homes."

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This is the most recent alleged traveller development, after a development in Hertfordshire sprung up over Easter bank holiday.

An anonymous parish councillor for Chiltern Hills claimed clashes had already begun with the new residents, claiming that they wielded "irion bards" and hurled "violent abuse and threats" at locals.

Trespassing was only made a crime in 2022, and many police are untrained on how to appropriately deal with unauthorised development.

Andrew Gillett, legal adviser for Country Land and Business Association, told the BBC: "The CLA would like to see police following adequate training to understand what the new law is - and for local authorities to provide adequate number of legal sites so travellers have somewhere to go."

In 2024, a High Court judge heard that between 2016 and 2018 there had been 65 encampments on Luton Borough Council land, and in 2017 there were 212 encampments in Hampshire.

Between 2015 and 2017, South Gloucestershire Council dealt with about 100 unauthorised encampments.

A spokesman for Canterbury City Council told the: "We always take reports of unauthorised activity seriously and act as quickly as we can.

"In this case, we issued a stop notice on Friday and will carry out further checks to ensure they have been complied with later this week."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been reached for comment.