WELLINGTON Town Council has been congratulated on how quickly and efficiently it dealt in removing an illegal encampment which had been set up by travellers.

It was on Sunday (May 17) evening when the council’s chief executive Dave Farrow received a call to say that travellers in a number of caravans had moved onto the green off Hoyles Road in Wellington.

But by Wednesday (May 20) the travellers had been sent on their way and contractors later that evening had installed boulders at the entrance to prevent anyone else deciding to set up camp on the land between Oakfield Park and Webbers Close, which is owned by the town council.

Mr Farrow told members of the council’s environment committee on Wednesday (May 20) evening that fortunately he had details of Bristol company GRC Group who were able to start eviction procedures almost immediately.

He said: “From conversations I’ve had with the operatives and the police it’s almost unheard of to have an encampment like that cleared within three days.

“We’re not out of the woods just yet, however, as I understand the travellers are now in Taunton and so they’re still about and they might decide to return to Wellington.”

Mr Farrow told councillors that they would have to pay for the installation of boulders, but explained that the council had to act “quickly and robustly.”

“Nothing is 100 per cent certain of keeping them out, but the boulders are our best immediate bet,” he said. “We are looking at other potential locations the travellers might look at and we’re seeing what we can do to mitigate that risk.

“We don’t often have these issues here in Wellington, but we’ve learnt some lessons this time and we now need to have a proper process in place.

“I don’t know how much all of this will cost the council, but I’m delighted that it has been resolved so quickly. The police told me that they were expecting the travellers to be there for around two weeks!”

Community committee chairman, Cllr Chris Booth, said: “It’s incredible really that they’ve gone within three days – from my dealings with other local councils facing the same issue, it’s unprecedented.”

The council’s open spaces manager, Darren Hill, congratulated his team on getting the area cleaned up after the travellers had departed and said it was “not the nicest of jobs.”

Cllr Mike McGuffie brought the conversation to an abrupt end when he said they might run the danger talking about “stereotypes” when discussing the traveller community.

The meeting had earlier been interrupted by two members of the public, who lived near the illegal travellers’ camp, who wanted to congratulate the council on its speedy intervention.

“I just want to thank the council for working so quickly in getting them moved,” one said. “I’ve been a prisoner in my own home the past few days.”

Another person said: “We’ve got a nice little community up there and we’d like to help you (the council) where we can if anything needs doing.”