Travellers evicted from sites in Didcot

Didcot Town Council was alerted to communities who set up camp in Smallbone Recreation Park, in Rymans Court, and Edmonds Park – near Didcot Wave car park, last Friday.

A site has also been set up close to Taylor Wimpey's Great Western Park development near the A4130 roundabout.

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Smallbone Recreation Park in Rymans Court (Google Maps)

Leader of the town council, Mocky Khan, said the travellers were evicted on Tuesday from Smallbone Recreation Park after reports of inappropriate behaviour directed at people living near the sites.

He said: "The key thing to highlight is that we must respect the traveller community and respect their lifestyle, but one thing I'm fundamentally against is threatening and aggressive behaviour.

"The thing we need to stamp down on is being aggressive towards residents and staff. We had to close the Civic Hall temporarily because of it.

"We had to get police and security involved but there are strict protocols for eviction. I've had residents contacting me asking for action, and we are doing as much as we can, but we need to go through the right processes.

"People are scared and I understand that, and when it's criminal behaviour police will get involved. But where it's town council owned-land we've acted quickly and got the eviction notice."

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Mr Khan said it had previously cost the council up to £10,000 to clean up sites after travellers had moved into the town.

Edmonds Park off Newlands Avenue (Google Maps) (Image: Google)

"It's just a case of respect," he said. "All communities need to respect buildings, facilities, and processes – and if that doesn't happen that's when we all get frustrated.

"Everyone has a different way of living and we just need to make sure we respect their lifestyle and also they have to respect the law and what's right and wrong."

The visiting traveller site set up near the Great Western Park development was reported to Oxfordshire County Council and Thames Valley Police on Friday, by councillor Sally Povolotsky, who represents the Hendreds and Harwell on the county council.

However, at the time of going to press, the camp remained. Ms Povolotsky said: "We haven't had any further updates from our travellers team but it's important to note again that the council hasn't adopted the Great Western Park land so it's up to Taylor Wimpey to issue eviction orders."

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A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey said: “We are aware that a group of travellers have unlawfully accessed land at Great Western Park in Didcot.

“As the landowner, we are in the process of taking action to ensure the travellers are moved from the site as soon as possible.”

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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