Illegal traveller encampments on council land over the past 3 years
Case reference FOI2024/00929
Published 30 May 2024
Request
Could you please advise as to how many illegal evictions have been made from council land over the past three years?
The request would then specifically be requesting:
Annual figures of the following over the past three years:
- No. of evictions of illegal traveller encampments on council land.
- What the size of these evictions were.
- And what the spend on evictions was, with the split between legal fees versus physically evicting individuals.
- Could you also please advise as to whether the cases were common law, or high court evictions and who looked into the legalities of eviction; was the case prepared internally or did external parties look into cases?
Response
Could you please advise as to how many illegal evictions have been made from council land over the past three years?
A) The Service Area have provided the following number of encampments where formal evictions have been carried out:
2021 - 1
2022 - 0
2023 - 2
2024 - 0
The request would then specifically be requesting:
Annual figures of the following over the past three years:
- No. of evictions of illegal traveller encampments on council land.
A) Please see the response above.
- What the size of these evictions were.
A) The Service Area have provided the following 'size of evictions' as the number of caravans in the encampment:
2021 - 1 encampment had 1 caravan.
2022 - N/A
2023 - 1 encampment had 8 caravans, and the other had 2 caravans.
2024 - N/A
- And what the spend on evictions was, with the split between legal fees versus physically evicting individuals.
A) 2021 - Encampment with 1 caravan:
Gypsy Traveller services = £180 (officer time)
Bailiff costs = £2,400
Legal fees, including process server = £961.17
2022 - N/A
2023 - Encampment with 8 caravans:
Gypsy Traveller service = £650 (officer time)
Legal services, including process server = £909.00
2023 - Encampment with 2 caravans:
Gypsy Traveller services £985 officer time
Bailiff costs £3,720
Legal fees, including process server = £759.86
2024 - N/A
- Could you also please advise as to whether the cases were common law, or high court evictions and who looked into the legalities of eviction; was the case prepared internally or did external parties look into cases?
A) The Service Area have advised the cases were dealt with under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and were all considered and dealt with by the Gypsy Traveller Service and Legal Services of Herefordshire Council. Court hearings for the encampments were completed using a barrister that was employed by Legal Services to represent the Council.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.