Conservative Councillor Neil Clarke MBE raised concerns at Nottinghamshire County Council’s Full Council meeting regarding recurring issues caused by travellers parking on a wide grass verge in Newton near the A46.
Speaking on behalf of local residents, Cllr Clarke highlighted frustrations within the village following repeated unauthorised encampments and questioned why previous incidents had taken so long to resolve.
Cllr Clarke said that residents had become increasingly concerned about the impact the encampments were having on the community and called for a review of the procedures used to deal with such incidents.
He told the meeting: “The last incident took two months to resolve, in what did not need to be such a convoluted and protracted way, due to disputes over which legal factors were correct.
“Residents are rightly concerned about the impact of this on their community and just want the problem solved. We therefore need to scrutinise the process and review how it can be streamlined to take much faster and more efficient action in the future, ensuring processes are followed correctly the first time.”
Cllr Clarke said that while all parties must operate within the law, there was a clear need to examine how agencies work together when dealing with unauthorised encampments and identify opportunities to reduce delays.
He argued that residents should not have to wait months for action to be taken and called for lessons to be learned from previous incidents to ensure a quicker and more effective response in future.
As the County Councillor for the area, Cllr Clarke said he would continue raising the concerns of Newton residents and pressing for improvements to the process so that local communities can have confidence that issues of this nature will be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.
