What to consider when removing travellers

When you have travellers on your land, you’ll need to consider the following:

Children

If there are children on the site, you should inform the local authority so that appropriate steps can be taken, should they need to be, by social services.

Animals

When travellers are removed from land, any remaining livestock becomes the responsibility of the landowner. If there are animals present, it is important you have a plan for them, this could be that they go to a local animal sanctuary or that they are re-homed.

Human rights

If you are removing travellers from a site owned by the local authority, you’ll need to factor in article 8 of the ECHR, as this protects an individual’s right to home and family life.

Potential violence

If you believe that removing the travellers might incite violent behaviour then you should inform the enforcement agents as this will inform their risk assessment and removal plans and it will ensure that everyone’s safety is considered.

Post eviction clean up

Travellers will sometimes leave waste behind, this might include hazardous material and human waste, you’ll need to consider how you’ll deal with this and instruct a third party to assist with the clean up if this is necessary.

Prevention of future issues

Obviously, you’ll want to mitigate the risk of further issues so it will be worthwhile looking at making the land more secure. Securing open land can be difficult so it might be worth looking at several solutions. Measures you might want to consider include

• CCTV, alarms or motion detection lighting
• High fences, barbed wire or electric fencing
• Mounds, trenches or metal posts filled with concrete
• Using natural landscapes such as ditches, berms, water or trees

Items left behind

If items are left behind, then you’ll need to ensure you issue a torts notice.

The torts notice should give the following:

• An itemised list of the goods
• Where the items are being stored
• Any information about how long you will keep the items (we recommend at least 14 days)
• If you are planning to sell the items, where this sale will take place
• If the items are sold, that storage and sale fees will be deducted from the proceeds

We would strongly recommend that you take a picture of the torts notice so that you have evidence should there subsequently be any issues.