Travellers have once again left others to pick up the pieces and pay the price after setting up on the grounds of the rugby club for a few days. It follows a similar incident recently in Epping Forest. Both Labour and Conservative local politicians agree that this state of affairs is wrong and that stronger powers are needed to evict people, whether travellers or anyone else for that matter, more swiftly. Currently forms have to be filled in, risk assessments carried out, welfare checks made, court orders obtained, and even then ‘notice’ is served giving 48 hours to leave the site. The system is far too heavily weighed in favour of those who have committed an offence. And by the time they are eventually forced to leave, of course, the damage has already been done. In this particular case, the trespassers cut through a fence and lock to gain entry. Why therefore is arrest not an immediate option, as Tory leader Paul Canal suggests?
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