TRAVELLERS have returned to Hurst Green Park this week sparking a row over why Dudley Council did not secure the site.

The park was given a facelift and new security in September after travellers settled on the site last Summer but new bollards designed to stop trucks and caravans entering have failed.

Conservative Halesowen North Councillor Karen Shakespeare is furious the council did not do a better job securing the park.

She said: "Wooden bollards were erected but we said at thee time they were not going to stop travellers if they were determined to get onto the site.

"We were told the council did not have the money to ensure the whole perimeter was secured."

She added: "However, what is infuriating is the council has spent money on putting bollards around a triangle of grass near Rowley Regis train station because commuters were parking there."

Labour Halesowen North Councillor and Dudley Council cabinet member for environmental services Hilary Bills refuted the suggestion the council could have done anymore to stop travellers getting onto the site.

She said: "Despite the latest measures to make Hurst Green Park secure, the latest group have found their way on to the park.

"Thanks to the drainage work of Severn Trent and the clearing of the culvert alongside the M5 by the Highways Agency, for the first time in a long while the park is not water logged which in turn has offered the travellers a way into the park which they wouldn’t have attempted in the past."

Dudley MBC officers and legal department are now preparing the legal case to have the travellers removed.

Cllr Bills added: “I’d like to thank the residents around the park who alerted me to the travellers and I was able to get to the park quickly and observe for myself how they had gained access and Dudley Officers have already agreed that gaps in the park’s security will be filled.

She added: "The newly formed Friends of the Park will be out in force to tidy it up after the travellers have left.”

And Cllr Bills praised the success of the bollards at the green triangle.

She said: "The bollards by the green triangle at the junction of Douglas Road and Fairfield Road are of a light recycled material and are there to remind motorists not to park on the grass.

"They have been very effective and the monies for these came from transportation and were part of a scheme to dissuade Rowley Regis rail travellers from parking in residential streets.

"The bollards in the park are heavy wooden ones sunk into concrete and are very effective because the travellers haven't attempted to remove them."

She added: "The current travellers have gained access at quite a risk to themselves and their caravans. The legal process to have them removed has already started and it's been agreed we'll review the two areas of weakness in the security."

In Oldbury a group of travellers have moved onto land owned by Perryfields High School.