Havering Council has served a stop notice and two enforcement notices following the construction of a “new traveller site” on land north east of Church Road without planning permission.
The notices allege that mobile homes and touring caravans have been unlawfully stationed on the land, while “building and engineering operations” have also been undertaken – including the formation of hardstanding and the erection of boundary fencing.
Recipients of the enforcement notices have until March 16 to stop using the land for residential purposes and to remove all mobile homes and caravans from the site.
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All hard surfaces, fencing, building materials and debris must also be removed from the site in order to restore the field to its former condition.
Meanwhile the stop notice orders the immediate cessation of any development, including preventing those responsible from bringing any more caravans, portable buildings or materials onto the land.
One enforcement notice said the “paraphernalia associated with a travellers’ site” has the effect of “devastating” the character of the area.
It added: “It is considered that retention of the works and residential use as a travellers’ site would have a significant harmful impact upon the ecological value and biodiversity of the land.”
The notices were served at the site by council teams last Thursday (December 4) following multiple sightings of large lorries, diggers and machinery on the field opposite Church Road at the end of November.
Leader of Havering Council Cllr Ray Morgon previously said the cabinet was “disappointed and shocked” to see the unlawful works taking place on private land.
After the notices were served, he told the Recorder: “Thanks to the swift actions of our teams, I am pleased to confirm that planning enforcement and stop notices were served at the site on Thursday afternoon (December 4).
“The notices require the travellers to stop all work on the land, remove everything that was brought onto it and to restore it to its former condition.”
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He added that the council will continue to seek legal advice about next steps.
An appeal can be made against the enforcement notices until January 16, however there is no right of appeal for stop notices – and those who breach them are at risk of immediate prosecution.
Several names are listed as recipients for the notices, including the owners and occupiers of the land.
The only business listed is High Top Gutters and Roofs Ltd, however a spokesperson for the firm said it is “nothing to do” with them and they don’t own the land.
