The motion was moved by Councillor Michael Latif and seconded by Councillor Charlie Chirico

The Labour amendment, as set out in item 24 was moved by Councillor Tobin Byers and seconded by Councillor Katy Neep.

Councillor Mary Jane Jeanes also spoke on the item.

The Labour amendment was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 37, and votes against 0 with 21 abstention.

The substantive resolution was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This Council shares public concern about travellers illegally occupying public green spaces and other public and private areas in the Borough.

Council thanks officers, the police and the courts on their recent work to move on travellers illegally camping on some of our parks and open spaces.

However, it is frequently the case that travellers evicted by the Council from one site then simply move on to occupy another site in the vicinity and current legislation means that the council’s hands are often tied, unable to move people on without undertaking time consuming and costly welfare checks and legal processes. This has been going on for many months in and around Merton, usually at the expense of public funds where it is public land being occupied, although there have also been encroachments on private land where the landowner is responsible and the legal requirements for removal are less exacting.

The process of undertaking travellers’ needs assessments and applying for court orders, as required by law, is not only costly and time consuming for the authorities concerned but also causes a good deal of inconvenience and anxiety to the local residents, although this is not something that can be avoided given the current legal framework.

Council congratulates officers on the speed and efficiency with which they have returned affected parks to cleanliness, but notes that subsequent cleaning up and cost effective and appropriate securing of the sites after the travellers’ eviction is only achieved by spending further tax payers’ money and must be weighed up against the many other services the council is required to provide from an ever reducing funding pot.

The council has a statutory duty to assess the welfare needs of Travellers in its area, and in particular the welfare needs of Traveller children and young people.  Evictions cannot be progressed until this process has been undertaken and any welfare needs assessed. However council notes that officers are carrying out a review of the welfare assessment procedure to identify whether there are ways of speeding up this process whilst continuing to abide by the legal requirements.

In addition, by their very nature, our parks and open spaces need to remain open and accessible to residents.  Whilst the council uses a number of methods to seek to prevent illegal encampments on our parks and open spaces, this is difficult to achieve without stopping residents from accessing their local parks.  The council therefore seeks to achieve a balance between actively discouraging illegal encampments and maintaining access for residents, in the knowledge that it is not possible to completely secure parks from those who are determined to set up illegal encampments without affecting residents’ rights of access to their local parks and open spaces.  

Council notes the strong partnership approach to illegal encampments on our parks and open spaces between the council and the police service in Merton.  This has helped speed up the eviction process and we are dependent on the police service’s ability to continue to support us in this way, with reductions in police resources a potential threat to this partnership working. 

This Council therefore resolves that it should:

•              Continue to take a proactive approach to secure public parks in the borough by working closely with Friends groups, councillors and local residents on cost effective, practical and innovative solutions that help prevent illegal encampments whilst maintaining access for residents where possible;

•              Continue to adopt a strong stance in order permanently to prevent travellers from illegally occupying public parks and other public spaces in the future, bearing in mind the legal duties placed on the council to assess the welfare needs of Travellers and in particular Traveller children and young people;

•              Continue to take full advantage of the summary recently published by the Government of the powers that public bodies, such as Merton, have to help them deal with unauthorised traveller encampments, bearing in mind that none of these powers are new, the appropriate powers are already in use by the council, and no new powers have been proposed by the government;

•              With ward Councillors well placed to communicate directly with their residents at short notice, consider measures to improve communication with local residents when unauthorised encampments do occur, building on the clear and regular communications some of our Councillors have distributed to residents where such issues have arisen in their wards; and

•              Seek agreement with the police on changes to the protocol where efficiencies in the current system are identified through the review of the welfare assessment procedure being carried out by officers which is seeking to identify ways of speeding up the process whilst continuing to abide by all the legal requirements.