Travellers wielding iron bars barged their way onto green belt land and began laying concrete, villagers have claimed.
On Thursday, diggers and bulldozers arrived at the field off Friendless Lane, near the village of Flamstead, on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire. Caravans are said to have followed in the early hours of Easter Sunday.
Villagers said they suspected the group had moved in during the long weekend in the hope that council officials would be slow to react to the unauthorised works at the area of outstanding natural beauty.
Travellers wielding iron bars barged their way onto green belt land and began laying concrete, villagers have claimed.
On Thursday, diggers and bulldozers arrived at the field off Friendless Lane, near the village of Flamstead, on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire. Caravans are said to have followed in the early hours of Easter Sunday.
Villagers said they suspected the group had moved in during the long weekend in the hope that council officials would be slow to react to the unauthorised works at the area of outstanding natural beauty.
A parish councillor, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed the travellers had clashed with villagers on Easter Sunday.
He told The Telegraph: “At about 7 o’clock, a whole load of travellers barged their way through. There was a lot of violent abuse and threats, people wielding iron bars, a few cars were damaged, they drove into a police car and drove past.”
The councillor said he had noticed activity around the site since Thursday evening, adding: “They started to bring in lorry loads of crushed concrete. [They] knew that over a bank holiday, councils and courts are effectively closed and they can do as much damage as possible before anyone starts to do anything about it.”
The council initially secured a temporary stop notice, designed to halt works on the land, because of “the scale and speed of the work taking place within the Chilterns National Landscape”.
He said police were “doing what they can”, but that the matter was civil rather than criminal.
The councillor added: “About 10 mobile caravans and mobile homes had already moved onto the site, and the narrow lanes around the village are blocked by static mobile homes. It’s green belt and it’s in an area of outstanding natural beauty, so it’s a kind of double whammy.
“What they do is they invade it put down as much hardcore as they can, bring on the caravans and then planning permission ... now they have actually got homes on the site, what they then claim is that they are members of a minority community [and] there aren’t enough sites supplied by councils.
“They play all the cards and know how to work the system. It’s created huge insecurity. Some people are worried about going out of their house.”
Local councils can take legal action in the form of a court injunction or enforcement notice to prevent people from living on land without planning permission and a site licence.
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