Residents of a West Midlands village formed a barricade to prevent travellers from setting up an illegal camp during the bank holiday weekend.
The villagers blockaded roads and turned back supply trucks carrying building materials to lay foundations for a permanent site in a field near Meriden, on Friday night.Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council then called an emergency planning meeting on Saturday in a bid to stop the illegal encampment.
Shadow communities secretary Caroline Spellman, who will defend her Meriden seat in this week’s general election, contacted the council’s chief executive, Mark Rogers, who called in the emergency meeting of planning officers.
She told the Birmingham Post a loophole in planning law allows planning permission to be granted where a genuine mistake has been made.
‘Others, however, deliberately try to use this loophole to create illegal encampments. Such events often begin on the eve of a bank holiday weekend because the council will not have all its staff on hand to deal with a breach.’
Ms Spellman said the law must be reformed to prevent such breaches.
