Council parks officers are to place wooden bollards around Borehamwood's Tempsford Green in a bid to keep travellers' convoys out.

Residents have been calling for the playing field to be protected for months, after convoys of travellers kept settling there and leaving piles of rubbish and burnt out cars behind when they were evicted.

In April residents threatened to attack the travellers' vehicles if they came back, and a meeting was organised where they told Hertsmere Borough Council's leader, Neil Payne, that urgent action was necessary.

At a recent executive meeting councillors agreed to place wooden bollards around the edge of the field. Figures were produced to show that it had cost Hertsmere around £2,800 to deal with the most recent convoy, and the police costs were estimated at £2,000.

Contractors are now being sought to carry out the work, which will cost around £13,000 to £15,000, and Hertsmere's senior landscapes officer, David Clark, said it should be finished in around ten weeks.

"We are going to go for wood, which should be quite attractive.

"The idea is not to make the park like a prison camp. They can always get on there if they want to, but it will be a deterrent."

The council also plans to carry out general improvements to the playing field, by planting extra trees in the Autumn and erecting new signs.

"At the moment it is just a flat field, so we are going to put signs up to raise people's awareness of it."

Labour group leader Frank Ward, who organised a public meeting about travellers on Tempsford Green last month, said he was delighted the council had acted so quickly.

"They appear to have found the necessary funding, which shows that the council has realised the potential problems that people in Borehamwood face over travellers."

Mr Ward said he had written to Hertsmere's MP, James Clappison, asking him to lobby ministers over a change in the law with regard to travellers, as the current system does not give councils or police forces enough power to move them on in all circumstances.

June 12, 2002 13:00