'Anti-social behaviour' as travellers set up on recreation grounds in Waterlooville and Bedhampton

TRAVELLERS have repeatedly set up on public land with reports of motorbikes speeding along fields nearby.
Travellers set up at Jubilee Park in Waterlooville and at Hook's Lane recreation ground in Bedhampton. Pictured are caravans at Hook's Lane. Picture: Richard LemmerTravellers set up at Jubilee Park in Waterlooville and at Hook's Lane recreation ground in Bedhampton. Pictured are caravans at Hook's Lane. Picture: Richard Lemmer
Travellers set up at Jubilee Park in Waterlooville and at Hook's Lane recreation ground in Bedhampton. Pictured are caravans at Hook's Lane. Picture: Richard Lemmer

More than nine caravans and several vans set up in Jubilee Park, Waterlooville, last Wednesday, before moving to Hook’s Lane Recreation Park in Bedhampton yesterday.

Travellers who spoke to The News in Bedhampton today said they would be moving on to Scotland.

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A police spokesman said: ‘We are aware of an unauthorised encampment at Jubilee Park in Waterlooville.

‘Officers have visited the site and spoken with the occupants, and have been liaising with the council.

‘We have also received a number of reports of anti-social behaviour linked to the site.’

Residents reported rocks being thrown at Poppins Nursery near to Jubilee Park.

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A young mother who takes her three year old to Poppins Nursery said people were having to ‘dodge’ men riding motorcycles in the park.

She said: ‘There has been grown men riding motorcycles so fast in the park – and people are having to dodge them.

‘The police should powers to move them on – if it was me or my children causing havoc I would be arrested straight away.

She added: ‘It helps paint the traveller community in a bad light – travellers are very nice people.’

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Travellers who spoke to The News said when they leave the field ‘it will be exactly like when we came – we do not dump’.

It is understood the travellers were in the area attending a funeral of a man who died in a road traffic accident.

Councillor Narinder Bains, cabinet lead for neighbourhoods at Havant, said: ‘We act within hours of any encampments appearing in the borough, to move them as soon as possible. There are, however, legal processes that have to be gone through to achieve an eviction.’

:: Simon Quilligan, 36, of no fixed address, was charged by police with having an air weapon in public following his arrest in Jubilee Park on Monday, and has been bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, July 30.