THE row over travellers setting up illegal camps in the borough was nearing boiling point this week, with Dudley politicians slamming senior council officers and police chiefs for failing to tackle the problem head on.

Kingswinford residents were bearing the brunt this week after a group of travellers moved onto playing fields in Cot Lane last Friday, after a week-long stay in Wordsley’s King George V Park which followed their eviction by police from football pitches at Withymoor near Sainsbury’s Amblecote.

Dudley South MP Mike Wood and Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Conservatives, met with Dudley Superintendent Phil Dolby and Dudley Council's strategic director for place, Alan Lunt, on Monday to discuss the situation but they were stunned to discover shortly afterwards that council colleagues in neighbouring Walsall have applied for and gained an injunction from the county court on Friday September 23 restraining people from setting up camps and causing a nuisance on 12 named sites.

Conservative MP Mr Wood said he was “extremely disappointed” neither Supt Dolby or Mr Lunt mentioned the application lodged by Walsall Council which has been heavily hit by illegal traveller camps this summer.

Dudley Council applied for a similar borough-wide possession order to try and stop travellers moving from site to site across Dudley. The court bid, however, was rejected – leaving Dudley officials little option but to apply for separate court orders every time caravans appear on a new patch of land.

Mr Wood continued: “It is absolutely essential that Dudley now does everything within its power to prepare and secure an injunction at the first opportunity.”

Superintendent Phil Dolby said he had replied to Mr Wood personally about the matter and he stressed: "Officers and staff need to strike a balance between the rights of the individual and the rights of the settled community when dealing with gypsies and travellers.

“We are continually striving to establish a clear, professional and multi−agency response to unauthorised encampments and manage such issues in an efficient and effective way, in conjunction with our local authority partners.

“We appreciate it can be frustrating for people living nearby and I want to reassure the public that work is going on behind the scenes - and the time it takes to resolve the issue is not down to a lack of action by ourselves or councils."

Dudley News:

Cllr Harley, however, let rip at Dudley's top council officers for failing to secure an injunction and for omitting to mention neighbouring Walsall was applying for one.

He said: “I haven’t any confidence in the leadership team. It’s unbelievable. They’re claiming to be transparent – and we found out they knew about this but didn’t see fit to raise it.”

Cllr Harley added: “We have a very expensive senior management team at the top in Dudley, just what are we getting in return?

"Other officer teams in other authorities seem to have their act together, ours is just playing catch up and only applied for a blanket ban when members of political parties asked them. It should be these officers with their inflated salaries pushing for this, they’re paid enough and are intelligent enough to come to members with proposals. To say we’re disappointed is an understatement.”

Councillor Hilary Bills, Dudley's cabinet member for environmental services, said in light of the "significant increase" in illegal traveller camps in the borough the council was looking to "improve intelligence and communications between all Black Country authorities to develop a long term solution to deal with travellers".

She added: "Our neighbours in Walsall have been experiencing severe issues with travellers for over a year and have had nearly four times the number of encampments that we have experienced in the past year. Because of this Walsall has been able to gather sufficient evidence to successfully secure a civil injunction, albeit one which does not prevent all travellers encampments."

She said Dudley's application for a borough-wide possession order against a specific group of travellers was refused because of a previous decision in the Supreme Court - but given the growing problem affecting the borough she stressed the authority would be looking to explore "whether it is possible to secure a civil injunction or other remedy given the specific circumstances in Dudley".

A report on Dudley’s efforts to tackle the problem of travellers was presented to the authority’s Place Scrutiny Committee last Thursday which said around 12 illegal traveller camps dealt with in the borough this summer had led to “heightened tensions within the community" and a "significant additional workload for the council and police” with the costs associated with legal action, securing the sites and clean-up operations hitting £80,000.

The figure has likely risen considerably since as operations to clean-up waste left by travellers on two sites off Turners Lane, Brierley Hill, have cost an additional £5,735.

A clean-up in Wordsley's King George V Park has also resulted in a £1,850 bill, and - as the News went to press - reports were coming in that an emergency clean-up would be needed on Cot Lane children’s play area where human faeces were found days after a picture was posted on Twitter appearing to show a man urinating towards the play area.

Cllr Bills said council officers were due to go to court today (Thursday) to seek a possession order to move the travellers off the Cot Lane site and she said the play area, which had to be cordoned off, would be reopened "as soon as the travellers are moved from the site and the area can be thoroughly cleaned".

One resident, who did not wish to be named, branded the scene "disgusting".