Travellers swoop onto Harpenden Common
Travellers on East Common in Harpenden - Credit: Archant
Travellers drove on to Harpenden Common on last night (10) with reports of at least 16 caravans parked there at one time.
The common, which is maintained by Harpenden town council, is a designated county wildlife site.
The caravans have been parked on the Hayfield, a part of the common which has a diverse range of wildflowers and butterflies.
Police have been to the site and are said to be working in partnership with the landowners to try and resolve the issue.
On the Harpenden Parents Network Facebook Group, former town Mayor, Cllr Mary Maynard, said around 16 vans had been parked on the Hayfield but that number had later dropped to six or seven.
She said that because it was a county protected wildlife site it was under a higher level stewardship scheme governed by Natural England.
Also, as it was a conservation area, it was protected by town council by-laws.
Most Read
- 1 Armed police seize machete from Sandpit Lane in St Albans
- 2 Council confirms first monkeypox case in Hertfordshire
- 3 Police probe into death of man in 20s at 'Kinky Towers' in Hertfordshire
- 4 Rapist jailed for 15 years after kidnapping teen in Hemel Hempstead
- 5 Hertfordshire teen bullying victim given royal honour
- 6 Peregrine falcon chick hatches at St Albans Cathedral in a city first
- 7 Success for Harpenden actor after National Youth Theatre audition
- 8 St Albans SustFest events aim to boost local nature
- 9 5 things you might not have known about Herts county council's new chairman
- 10 The Crossrail connections to Hertfordshire which were never built
No-one from Harpenden town council was available to make any comment on the situation before the Herts Advertiser deadline today.