Travellers who settled into a Worcester Park green space have been escorted out of the borough by police.

The group, who moved into Manor Park with four caravans and a dog kennel on Tuesday, were moved on at about 11pm yesterday.

Kingston police tweeted the news last night, saying: “Travellers who had set up camp in Manor Park have now been escorted out of the area.”

Councillor Simon James, lead member for sustainability, said: “I know they had been escorted out of the borough by the police.

“I am pleased that they have moved off. Obviously they should never have been there in the first place.

“We know they are no longer in the borough.”

Surrey Comet:

Police talk to travellers in Manor Park

Councillor Howard Jones said: “I am very pleased that the police saw fit to use their section 61 powers to remove travellers from the borough.”

The travellers were able to drive their caravans into a public park after “a council fence was removed” by allotment owners, it had been claimed.

Entry was made all the more easier as owners of the Hawthorne Woods had spent months chopping down trees, burning them and flattening the area for allotment plots.

Coun James said the council was considering suing the land owners.

He said: “We are, of course, very annoyed they took out part of our fence.

“We are investigating suing for any legal wasted costs. This guy has removed part of the fence and this has allowed these guys across.

"Now the travellers have moved on we will know what costs we have had incurred.

"If we can show that it was that land owner who opened the fence that allowed them in then these costs would be payable.

"We obviously have a duty on behalf of taxpayers to recover these costs." But Sumdar Guru, who is representing three owners of the seven proposed allotments said he would investigate the claim.

He said: “I was there yesterday [Wednesday] securing the whole place with Kingston Council officers. No one mentioned anything about it to me. You are the first person to mention this to me.

“I am more than willing to help secure our part of the land – anything to do with the site, I will do it.”

It is believed the travellers are the same group that moved on to the derelict Worcester Park Tavern car park for weeks. Piles of rubbish were left behind when they finally left earlier this year.

Kingston Council leader Liz Green said: “I would like to thank the police in particular who worked closely with us and the travellers to ensure that the vehicles were removed swiftly from Manor Park.

"We work hard to keep our assets secure, and the quick resolution of this incident shows that the coordinated plans we have with our partners to deal with these kinds of events are effective.”

Chris Cockel, project officer at the Environment Trust for Richmond which also works in Kingston, said: “What started out as quite a nice piece of woodlands has been decimated by a private landowner.

“It resembles something you might see in a Borneo rainforest. It is a total mess. It’s a green flag park so it really makes a mockery out of the green flag system if a green flag park can be treated this way.”

He said chopping down the trees could affect bird and bat populations despite there not being any tree preservation orders at the site.

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