Travellers camp on nature reserve

Cllr Stan French visited the site on Sunday after complaints from residents in Olives Meadow, whose homes back on to it.

He said they were upset about dogs running loose, toilets being emptied into trees up the road and bonfires burning. 'They are not the most environmentally friendly visitors.'

Another councillor, Dr Martyn Stenning, an ecologist who had particularly welcomed the designation of the reserve in December said he too had visited the site and been 'quite upset' at what he saw.

'Spring is just developing. All the wildlife are settling down for the breeding season and of course everything will be disturbed, ground nesting birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects. Plants coming up have been trampled.

'The amount of damage being done to the wildlife on that nature reserve is incredible.'

Police had already moved the travellers from two sites in Uckfield at the weekend using special powers but judged it inappropriate to use the same powers to move them from the nature reserve.

The travellers were moved from the Bellbrook Industrial Estate and from the Somerfield Car Park. 'An officer's assessment suggested that the current location actually causes a limited impact on the community and the environment and the police are now working with the travellers, the town and district councils to identify a more suitable site for them,' said a spokesman.

Town clerk Ashley Serpis said a padlock on a gate to the reserve had been broken allowing the caravans to move on to the site.

He said everything was being done to evict the travellers as soon as possible but there was a human rights element to be taken into account.

'What people don't appreciate is that travellers do have quite a reasonable amount of rights. I know people say, "Well, how about our rights" but we don't make the rules. We are just obliged to follow them.'

The travellers themselves were shocked by the amount of attention they were receiving. 'You would think we were celebrities the number of people who have been coming to look at us,' said one.

He said all they wanted was a permanent site where they could settle and get their children into school. But they were being forced to move from place to place. Nobody wanted them nearby yet they had lives to lead and had to find somewhere to stay.

County councillor Chris Dowling said his council had gone to a lot of expense between four and six weeks ago to move travellers from the Bellbrook Centre.

'I have great sympathy with Olives Meadow residents and am very sorry that the town council will now have similar costs to repossess this land and clean it up.'