A SUMMER of tackling the problem of illegal traveller camps across the borough has left authorities in Dudley with an £80,000 bill and counting.

Between June and August – Dudley Council has had to deal with 12 unauthorised encampments across different sites around the borough.

A report to the council’s Place Scrutiny Committee, which is set to take place tomorrow (Thursday September 22), says the camps have led to “heightened tensions within the settled community and led to a significant additional workload for the council and police” with the costs associated with taking legal action, securing the sites and clean-up operations hitting £80,000.

The figure is sure to rise further as clean-ups at the most recent illegal camps at Withymoor, Brierley Hill, on land next to One Stop shop and opposite Sainsbury’s Amblecote off Turners Lane, have resulted in a £5,735 bill.

Additional clean-up costs are also anticipated to result from a stop-off by travellers who parked up in King George V Park in Wordsley last Friday.

A court date has been scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) and Wordsley councillor Kerry Lewis told the News this afternoon she expects the group will have moved on by Friday.

She said she has been inundated with calls from worried parents whose children attend nearby Belle Vue Primary School where a fence was reportedly cut.

Headteacher David Porter said the fence had since been repaired and the main school car park locked to prevent access to the site off Lawnswood Road and he said parents and visitors have been temporarily using an alternative entrance.

He added: “Staff, pupils and parents have been extremely tolerant and understanding about this issue and the children’s education is our continuing priority. We look forward to this issue being resolved soon.”

Councillor Gaye Partridge, Dudley’s cabinet member for housing, said: “I assure people we are doing everything we can, working with police, councillors, MPs and neighbouring authorities, to resolve this as quickly as possible and share people’s frustrations about these illegal settlements. We are also taking further legal advice to make sure we do all we can to protect our open spaces from these types of incidents.”

The ongoing problem affecting the borough will be discussed further at tomorrow’s scrutiny committee which starts at 6pm at Dudley Council House. The meeting aims to set out the law relating to unauthorised traveller camps and the powers available to the council and police.

Meanwhile – residents will be meeting at Sainsbury’s Amblecote at 11am on Saturday September 24 to discuss the recent illegal camps at Withymoor and develop ideas on how they can be prevented and the area secured.