Conservatives in Strood (Medway)

Strood Station's Uninvited (Traveller) Guests Leave

Following a call from an alert resident a few weeks ago who had noticed a gate had been broken down and a building broken into, I alerted Council Officers to investigate. When the Warden arrived that morning, Travellers were in situ. The site was actually owned by Railtrack, but the building concerned had been some months before set alight and was not a safe place to be.

Strood station’s surrounding area (riverside), is not the most welcoming sites at the best of times and until the regeneration of this area takes place, it is unlikely to change. However, the last thing people want to see when they come off the station is such encampments especially late at night, as it can leave them feeling vulnerable, especially when travelling alone! Not being Council land the council had a different role and of course never satisfied, the vans had multiplied along the deep grass verge causing a nuisance to residents in Kingswear Gardens as well as the general public. Neither does such a sight, give a good impression to people visiting Medway for our festivals or wonderful tourist attractions such as Rochester Cathedral or the Castle.

Working with the Railways and the police at my behest the Council arranged an order to have them removed. I have been notified today that they have now left and for the time being this is no longer a problem for this area and I am pleased that residents know that I care about their area as every other bit that I am elected to serve.

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2 Comments

Col_M said…: Where did the travelers go? What solutions do you have for the traveling community as to where they can camp?

I have many friends in the traveling community who face upheavals and would be interested in what your parties thoughts are on the matter?

Jane Etheridge said…: Breaking into property is against the law, which is what happened on this occasion. Also parking on someone else’s property as also happened here is also illegal, not to say unfair on other residents whose homes back onto the site and visitors to the area and dare I say tax-payers!

You asked whether Medway has a site? It does in Cuxton! I was previously the representative for Cuxton and Halling. In fact whilst I was the councillor there, I visited the residents on many an occasion as I was helping one or two with several problems that they had with the site. They were great people paid their site fees and council tax, kept their site clean, their homes were spotless and deserved the services on offer that the Council had to offer. I’m not saying that all were angels, one or two had been involved in some serious criminal activity, but then that could be said elsewhere of communities in Medway.

During my time as councillor for Cuxton I was contacted on another occasion because having broken through the height restrictor, ‘Travellers’ were on the car park at the railway station. This caused a lot of concern for residents in the local vicinity there, not least the travelling public who were unable to park to catch a train to either get to work or even go out for pleasure. Dogs were roaming; generators’ running at all times and rubbish was everywhere. Young children were regularly riding around the site and even out into the road on quad bikes, which were a danger to the public, and caused a nuisance to residents, so much so that several had enough and moved! At least one person that I knew of had a break down and what was a nice little community were absolutely fed up of the antisocial behaviour in the area. Actually, even the people from the official site, complained to me.

Strood has also been the target of many other illegal camps, Medway City Estate, The former Safeway site, along side Anthony’s way by the tunnel, up by Medway Gate and the top of Church Green, to name but a few. The clearing up of these sites after they have left, or moved on, costs the tax-payer through their council tax £thousands.

Both Medway Council and Kent County Council have a variety of useful information on their web sites, including official sites, which is helpful to both the travelling community and people affected by anti-social behaviour. Of course the most important thing is that we ALL act within the law.

http://www.medway.gov.uk/index/community/travellers.htm
http://www.kent.gov.uk/Community/equality-and-diversity/gypsies-and-travellers/

Where they went afterwards I’m not sure. I have considered this dilemma much thought over time, but the longer I think about it I also realise that such actions would be open to abuse and clever lawyers. I would be very interested to know what solutions you or even your traveller friends have – perhaps you have a piece of land available by you for their use? As to what my Party’s policy is or will be when in government I don’t know; but what I do know is that this group termed “hard to reach group” is being targeted by this government to ensure that they have good health care and educational opportunities is being prioritised over the coming months. I wonder whether the Tax office and the DVLA will take such an interest – I suspect not. It’s a funny old world isn’t it!