Clear up continues after group of travellers evicted from site in Peterborough

On Wednesday, a group of up to 20 caravans left land at Gostwick, Orton Brimbles after staying for two weeks on the site.

During that time, residents reported a rise in anti-social behaviour and police carried out extra patrols as a result.

The group left the site on the same day an eviction notice was served on them by Peterborough City Council.

On Thursday and Friday (September 9-10) crews from Aragon Direct Services moved in to begin the clear-up and removed several bags of rubbish. Ward councillors for the area, Cllr Julie Howell and Cllr Kirsty Knight, also spent time there over the weekend clearing up several bags of more rubbish.

0n Monday (September 13), crews from Aragon are expected to return to the site to remove the remaining items, which includes a significant amount of wipes and human waste, located close to a public footpath on the far end of the site.

Residents have been advised that it may be best to avoid that area until this is cleared.

The encampment was one of four in Cllr Howell’s Orton Waterville ward last week. It is believed that those that have left the site have moved on to a mixture of locations on Orton Southgate industrial estate, Oakleigh Drive in Orton Longueville and other areas.

Cllr Howell said: “The past week has been a challenging situation for everyone. Between August and October, we usually get these kinds of encampments but four in a week was a lot.

“This one was particularly challenging though given that the vehicles accessed the site via a resident’s property and had to drive across her lawn to get in and out.

“They arrived while she was away, otherwise her car would have been parked in the way. The situation got so bad that she actually had to leave her property, with her child, while they were still there, which is really intolerable.The police were not prepared to be helpful with this, which we thought would bring about a solution.

“The clean up is still ongoing, Cllr Knight and I visited the site over the weekend. We cleaned up a couple of bage between us, just leaving the human waste and other rubbish we couldn’t reach, which I have implored the council to clean up. It is perhaps best if people avoid the area while this is taking place.

“We have no issues with this lifestyle but this level of rubbish is very frustrating and they also built two large fires.”

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