A year of misery will come to a head when MP Patrick Hall holds a public meeting over illegal traveller encampments in Bedford.

The Bedford and Kempston MP will host the forum on Thursday, September 11, at Bedford's Harpur Suite.

Members of the public are invited to come and make their voices heard, and Mr Hall will be joined on the podium by the Mayor of Bedford Frank Branston, and Inspector Mark Everett of Bedfordshire Police.

The politician hopes to turn the pressure on both the Town Hall and the government in a bid to enable speedier action on the issue.

He said: "It has been a year of misery, and people's patience is getting close to breaking point. Bedford is seen as a soft touch, and places like Longholme Way are virtually permanent traveller encampments all summer long.

"Bedford Borough Council claims that it has a good record of dealing with traveller encampments, and that other authorities phone it asking for advice. Let's get real here. If that is the case then why do people see the opposite when they walk through Bedford?"

Mr Hall also hopes to have Cliff Codona, of the National Travellers Action Group, as the fourth name on the stage, and expects to have another public figure chairing the meeting.

Two months ago Mr Hall sparked controversy when he claimed Bedford was seen as a "soft touch" by travellers across the country, and that Bedford Borough Council was known for being slow to respond to illegal encampments.

And last month Bedford Borough Council rejected a planning application to build a temporary traveller site in the village of Bletsoe, after protests from residents and amid councillors' fears that the arrangement would become permanent.

Mr Hall said: "This meeting is an opportunity for the public to express their views. But it is not just time for talk, it is time to act.

"Things need to be done nationally, as well as locally, but in Bedford it is local things we need to make happen. And I am not here to pull my punches."

A borough council spokesman said: "It is disappointing to see our local MP criticising others for carrying out their statutory duties rather than challenging the government to review their policies to make it easier to remove unauthorised encampments.

"We take the issue of unauthorised encampments on our land very seriously and where justified, following necessary health, welfare and education checks, we will continue to pursue their speedy removal through the courts.

"We have written to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for gypsy and traveller issues, requesting an urgent review of the situation in order to increase the speed with which we are able to remove unauthorised encampments.

"The council has also undertaken protection measures on a number of its green space sites to deter unauthorised traveller encampments."
n A MONTH-long saga has re-started in Kempston, after travellers returned to Southfields Estate.

Last weekend a group of caravans returned to the site, where travellers had previously been based for four weeks.

Earlier this month Bedfordshire County Council and Bedford Borough Council had struggled to evict the illegal encampment, as the travellers moved between two sides of the land. This was because one half belonged to the county council, and the other is owned by the Town Hall.

Coun Carl Meader (Labour, Kempston South) said: "Residents are absolutely fuming. I know that the borough council are setting the wheels in motion, but we will have to go through the same legal situation again.

"It has now been virtually the entire summer holidays that children have simply not been able to play on that land at all. It took four weeks to get them off the land last time, and nobody wants to face going through all that again. But unless it is the same travellers, that is what looks likely.

"Children cannot go and play on the grass, and dog walkers cannot take their pets out, it is disgusting."

He added: "It is unbelievable, but it takes so long for anything to happen even when both councils are doing their best. Really, the law needs changing so that we can just move them away immediately.

"To be fair, when the first travellers arrived last time the council took rubbish bags and the travellers did clean up as they went along. But shortly afterwards more of them arrived, and some of them just didn't care about their mess, or the affect it had on everyone else."

A spokesman for Bedfordshire County Council said: "We instigated procedures to evict the travellers as soon as we were informed of their whereabouts on Tuesday.

"Highways staff have been looking at securing the site, but are mindful that it is currently an area of public open space. The complicated layout of the area could also cause some difficulty. However, we assure the public that we are working to ensure as early a resolution to the problem as possible."