A traveller has criticised the council for not maintaining a caravan site, raising concerns about her grandson’s safety.

Herts Advertiser: Lillian is concerned for her grandson's safety after he fell over a raised pavement.Lillian is concerned for her grandson's safety after he fell over a raised pavement. (Image: Archant)

Lillian Brinkley, who lives on the Barley Mow Caravan Site, St Albans, is concerned about the safety of her grandson, who has a number of health issues.

The site is owned by Herts County Council (HCC) and according to Lillian, she has been asking for changes to be made for six months. Lillian became worried for her grandson after he fell over a raised pavement on the site during the summer.

She said: “My main concern is the safety of the ground of the pitch I live on because he (her grandson) fell over and got a gash on his lip and had to have stitches.”

Lillian, who has guardianship of her grandson, maintained that she had asked for the uneven ground of her pitch to be fixed before her grandson was hurt. In addition, she said that the ground to her pitch was dug up at the beginning of the year to have a gas tank fitted but the hole has not been filled.

She continued: “It hasn’t been filled properly, my son filled it with dirt but it is meant to be covered with cement and they don’t plan on doing that.”

Along with her concerns over the safety of the site, Lillian said that a CCTV camera has recently been fitted which looked into her living room invading her privacy.

She said: “I wasn’t made aware that it was going to be put there.

“My son saw it and then I looked at the TV for the camera and saw that it peeks into my front room.”

Lillian added that the wardens of the site did not plan on moving the CCTV camera to another location.

Colney Heath Ward Cllr Chris Brazier, commented: “HCC recently put in a new playground for the site and all the pitches are up to standard.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s a well-maintained site, by the people on it as well.”

An HCC spokesperson said the authority had accepted a request to have an area of Lillian’s plot concreted over, with an “agreed understanding that this would be completed when the funding and staff are available”.

The spokesperson said that Lillian had also requested the digging of a trench in order to have a gas pipe fitted, on the understanding that it was her responsibility to “commission a third party to carry out the gas installation”.

A spokesperson for HCC said: “HCC dug the trench and filled it in after the pipe had been fitted but we were unable to concrete over the trench until the gas installation had been completed.

“Once the resident has informed us that this has been done, we will be able to concrete over that small area quite quickly.”

She added: “No CCTV on any area of the site intrudes into the private areas of the site.

“In Barley Mow, it covers the site entrance to deter fly tipping which is a problem on the site.”