Another Bank Holiday ‘land grab’ has left residents devastated after diggers bulldozed a wildlife haven for a suspected traveller site.
Sawbridgeworth, East Hertfordshire was the latest area to be targeted by developers who arrived on Friday morning with huge lorries, fences going up and roads being blocked.
In videos posted on social media, birds can be heard chirping as work involving heavy machinery is carried out on greenbelt land. It has devastated residents who fear travellers have taken over and destroyed the precious wetland habitat and floodplain.
The council has issued a Temporary Stop Notice which requires builders to halt further work on the site, but residents claim unauthorised work has carried on regardless.
One neighbour, in her 50s who wishes to be anonymous, has lived in the area all her life and told the Daily Mail she feels ‘powerless’ and ‘devastated’.
She said: ‘I believe they are travellers building a traveller site. Some people don’t want them anywhere and I think they should go through all the steps that everyone else has to when it comes to planning and building.
‘They definitely don’t have permission – the order was ignored and they’ve continued to bring in diggers and all sorts of machines.’
The resident added that she and her neighbours are mostly saddened by the destroyed habitats of the protected wildlife, including bats, newts and nesting birds.
In videos posted on social media, birds can be heard chirping as work involving heavy machinery is carried out on greenbelt land
Another Bank Holiday ‘land grab’ has left residents devastated after diggers bulldozed a wildlife haven for a suspected travellers site
Left: Last month a muntjac was pictured enjoying the land. Right: The current state of the site
She said: ‘The reserve has been around for as long as life and within a day it was destroyed. It’s a total destruction of nature, it’s absolutely disgusting.
‘There’s a lady who lives right across the road from it and she’s in tears. We’re completely appalled by the destruction; it’s devastating to be so powerless in the situation.
‘It’s the bank holiday and no one has the chance to stop it before it’s too late, so they’ve got four days to destroy habitats’.
It follows a trend that has seen travellers purchase land, often in leafy parts of the Home Counties, before unauthorised sites are set up.
They fear it could be the latest example of a ‘land grab’ – a trend that has seen travellers swoop in to lay pitches over Bank Holiday weekends, when council offices are closed.
Planning permission is then sought retrospectively, with travellers often granted the permanent right to stay because there is an ‘unmet need for pitches’.
One concerned neighbour expressed dismay over the irreversible damage to the wildlife and the inaction from authorities over the long weekend.
She said: ‘Heavy machinery and diggers began bulldozing a beautiful wetland beside our village lock. The area is an important habitat for birds and other wildlife, and it is now being rapidly churned up and covered with large quantities of hardcore.
‘East Herts Council has issued a Temporary Stop Notice. However, despite that notice, machinery and vehicles are continuing to operate on the site and further material is being brought in.
The council has issued a Temporary Stop Notice which requires builders to halt further work on the site, but residents claim unauthorised work has carried on regardless
One resident said that she and her neighbours are mostly saddened by the destroyed habitats of the protected wildlife, including bats, newts and nesting birds
Neighbours have organised a peaceful protest to be held at the lot on Sunday morning to convey their frustration which they hope will remove the workers quicker
‘The police are currently in attendance, but there appear to be only two officers dealing with the situation. Meanwhile, the destruction is continuing in real time.
‘We are extremely concerned that by the time the relevant authorities are able to take effective action, this precious wetland and its wildlife habitat will have been irreversibly damaged.
‘This is not simply a planning dispute. It is an environmental emergency happening right now, with heavy machinery actively destroying a wildlife habitat.’
Neighbours have organised a peaceful protest to be held at the lot on Sunday morning to convey their frustration which they hope will remove the workers quicker.
Another resident also told the Mail: ‘Many many residents are distraught, dismayed and feel very let down by the laws relating to this kind of destruction of wildlife habitats beside a lovely picturesque lock in a pretty historic small town.’
East Herts council said in a statement on Saturday morning: ‘Council officers have attended the site and we have issued a temporary stop notice, requiring any further unauthorised activity covered by the notice to cease immediately.
‘Our planning enforcement team will continue to closely monitor the site and investigate the works that have taken place. We will also work with Herts police to monitor the situation.
‘We will consider what further enforcement action may be necessary and appropriate, and will provide a further update when we are able to do so.’
Sheering Mill Lane, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire: Map view of the suspected travellers site
Last week, travellers who held an entire village to ransom for £600,000 in a land grab scam have applied to officially house caravans the site after their ‘blackmail attempt’ backfired
Cllr Angus Parsad-Wyatt, the mayor of Sawbridgeworth said: ‘East Herts issued the temporary stop notice this morning. This has been ignored, so the council is working on an emergency application for an injunction to prevent occupation of the site.
‘Legal and enforcement officers at the council are gathering the necessary information and hope that a temporary injunction can be issued today.’
A police spokesman told the Indie: ‘Hertfordshire Constabulary is aware of a dispute over the use of land in Sheering Mill Lane, Sawbridgeworth. We are liaising with our partners at East Herts District Council.’
East Herts council and Hertfordshire Constabulary Police have been contacted by the Daily Mail
It’s the latest ‘bank holiday land grab’ to occur after construction works suddenly got underway on a greenbelt plot of land in Irby, Merseyside.
Three caravans, two diggers, two cars and a van have been seen on the land, which is located just yards from residents’ homes.
No planning application has been submitted for works to be completed on the site, according to the Wirral Council planning portal.
A number of locals believe it is travellers who have bought the land and are conducting the illegal works.
Last week, travellers who held an entire village to ransom for £600,000 in a land grab scam have applied to officially house caravans on the site after their ‘blackmail attempt’ backfired.
The family bought the greenfield site, which is the size of a tennis court, just outside the Buckinghamshire village of Dinton in February – and immediately drove three caravans and a mobile home onto the plot.
In a carefully orchestrated operation, diggers and lorries moved onto a quarter-of-an-acre plot off to lay hardstanding rubble and position caravans in the designated conservation area.
Horrified villagers, who protested against what they call an illegal land grab, say they were approached by two men who said that if they wanted them to leave the area, they could buy back the land for more than £600,000 – forty times the £15,000 they are believed to have paid for it.
Now, after the 800 people living in Dinton refused to bend to the travellers’ demands, the family’s patriarch Jimmy Doran has officially applied to the council to turn it into a permanent residence.
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