£60k spent clearing sites after travellers

LEFT BEHIND. . . Oldham Edge in mid-June

THE COST of cleaning up after travellers on Oldham’s green spots has soared fourfold in two years.

Council chiefs, fed-up of the increasing costs, are to lobby Parliament for new laws to tackle the epidemic of travellers flytipping across the country.

The latest figures emerged after residents were angered by Oldham Edge playing fields being left piled with rubbish after a 10-day encampment.

Council-taxpayers were left with the clean-up bill while the travellers made a profit by being paid to dispose of debris.

Even more caravans were at the site than initially reported as an extra 25 arrived in addition to the 33 that first took over the fields. Oldham Council says it will cost up to £5,000 to carry out substantial clearance and restoration work.

Figures obtained by the Chronicle show that in 2006 it cost the council £30,000 in clean-up operations.

So far this year, the cost is almost £60,000.

Cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, Councillor Mark Alcock, said: “It’s a national issue, not just Oldham, and something needs to be done on a national level.

“We have to start looking at it at a higher, strategic level to see if there’s something they can do through legislation.

“If it’s costing us a lot of money, it’s costing other cities and towns a lot of money, millions of pounds, to clean up the rubbish.”

He said he would look at streamlining the council’s system to get the rubbish cleaned up quicker.

And he called for residents to do their bit by making sure that anyone paid to take rubbish away has a permit and proof of where they are going to take it.

So far this year travellers have clashed with residents and dumped rubbish at the former Radclyffe School, Chadderton, Street Bridge, Royton, Snipe Clough and the former B&Q car park, Mumps.

The costs do not include sums private firms have also paid out.

Last year, Sheffield-based Excel Parking paid £10,000 on private bailiffs evicting travellers from Bloom Street car park and thousands more on a clean-up operation.