Anger over traveller site damage at Preston park

A Preston park has been left strewn with rubbish and building waste after travellers set up an unlawful encampment.

The group spent 10 days on Ashton Park before being removed by police on Friday (17th July). Amongst the detritus they dumped during their stay was a dismantled glass conservatory which was thrown into shrubbery.

Preston City Council says it will take up to 72 hours to clean up the Pedders Lane green space in the wake of the unauthorised visit, which involved around two dozen vehicles and an unknown number of people.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands it is the biggest remedial operation the authority has ever had to undertake after travellers have pitched up on a site.

Ann Cowell, chair of the Friends of Ashton Park, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she and other group members were sickened by the current state of the popular spot, which they volunteer to help preserve.

“It’s heartbreaking. The youngsters [in the traveller community] were practising their chainsaw skills on some of the…standard trees – and they have just been decimated.

“And you can’t believe how many fires were lit everywhere, which have charred all the grass.

“Then there is the human waste and used toilet roll – faeces of every description, it’s absolutely revolting,” Ann said, referring to a grim discovery by another Friends member in a wooded part of the park.

Construction and green waste that clearly originated elsewhere has also been deposited on the plot.

“We don’t know [exactly] what they’re dumping here and what’s underneath it all – it could be Japanese Knotweed, which is invasive and [spreads],” Ann said.

She appealed to people to think twice before giving building work to “strangers who knock at your door and randomly say they’re in the area”.

Liz Atkins, one of the Preston city councillors for the Ashton ward, said she was “shocked” by what she described as “the worst damage Ashton Park has ever sustained following a traveller visit”.

Ann said the Friends group had previously lobbied the city council to install better protection around the perimeter of the park to prevent travellers gaining access – and had even offered to buy planters themselves, but had been told that they would be too costly to maintain. She also criticised the authority for what she said was its failure to keep locals up to date with progress on efforts to remove the travellers.

It is believed an eviction order was obtained by the city council to clear the site, but it is not known exactly when. An enforcement officer is understood to have accompanied police when the travellers were moved on.

Recently, Ann said vehicles had been pulling onto the park twice a year – but she stressed that not all travellers were as disrespectful as those that had just departed The penultimate group to stay on the site had bagged up its rubbish and taken it away.

Asked what she would say to the traveller families that had briefly made Ashton Park their home this month – while showing so little regard for its regular users – Ann said she had one overriding question: “Why can’t you be decent? I just don’t understand it.

“I know you need somewhere to park, but why do you have to disrespect local people and our local green space? Why do you have to do this?”

Preston City Council was approached for comment on the issues raised by the Friends group and a spokesperson said on Monday (20th July): “The parks team are on site currently progressing with the clean up which will take approximately two to three days due to the amount of debris and damage caused.”

The LDRS understands that town hall discussions are ongoing regarding the best course of action to help protect Ashton Park from future incursions. However, the open, flat nature of the site provides a plethora of potential access points – and planters are not necessarily deemed the best option to combat the problem.

The Friends, Families and Travellers organisation – a charity that works to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people – was approached by the LDRS for comment, as were Lancashire Police.