The travellers on Stanley Park

A CONVOY of travellers have been moved on four times by police over the past week after trespassing on private land.

In the middle of controversy over the hunt for permanent gipsy sites in north Wiltshire, the most recent invasion resulted in numerous football games being cancelled or rescheduled after 20 vehicles moved onto the Stanley Park ground in Chippenham, pictured above, on Friday afternoon.

By Monday morning, secretary of Chippenham Town Youth Terry McCosh said there was still no sign of them leaving despite being issued with legal notices over the weekend.

He said: "The guy who runs the site was met with hostility when he tried to stop them and they told him they would just break the locks on the gate if he didn't let them through.

"We won't know how much damage has been done yet, but it's going to take some time to clear up as there are dogs and children running wild all over the site.

"Luckily Sheldon School let us use some of their land and Chippenham Town Football Club were also very helpful in providing space for games to take place over the weekend."

The day before, police had been called to deal with the same group of travellers who set up camp on Chippenham Rugby Club's ground, after being moved on from outside McDonald's in Bath Road.

At about 6pm, officers arrived at Allington Fields, the home of the rugby club, to tell the travellers to leave.

However, after the travellers left the ground on Friday at 9.30am, they made a temporary home on private farmland off Pewsham Way.

Peter Livesey, clubhouse manager at Chippenham Rugby Club, said they would have to wait to see what damage had been done to their pitch.

He said: "There was nothing to stop them coming onto the land because if the club is open then the gates have to be open.

"But we are going to dig a ditch by the entrance now.

"They did leave very calmly in the end but they were here too long. We have just seeded the ground so we won't know for a few weeks if they have damaged it so badly it will affect training."

The travellers left Stanley Park on Tuesday after a site was found for them on Wiltshire County Council-owned land in Odstock, near Salisbury.

The latest controversy comes after the district council revealed a shortlist of land in public ownership which could be used to locate 28 permanent traveller or gipsy pitches.

At a heated council meeting last month, residents clashed with gipsies over the shortlist, which included land at Stanley Lane, Longs Close and Hardens Mead in Chippenham and Abberd Way and Oxford Road in Calne.

The backlash prompted the district council to ask for the public's help in finding suitable pieces of land, and it launched a six-week consultation period to give the public a say.

The Government has given the district council £250,000 to fund a permanent site.

Sergeant Martin Alvis, of Chippenham police, said the travellers faced arrest if they did not comply with notices to leave land. "We would encourage land owners or people with large open spaces to be aware and make sure they are not vulnerable."

11:00am Friday 16th May 2008

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