Mound plan to thwart travellers at Shropshire M54 services

Work is planned for land at the entranced to the Welcome Break Services of junction four of the M54, near Shifnal, later this year.

Shifnal Town Council was told mounds were to be built on the land as part of improvement works around the motorway junction by Telford & Wrekin Council.

Councillor Kevin Turley, speaking at the council's annual meeting held in the Old Fire Station, said it was hoped the work could be completed by August or September.

It comes after travellers pitched up on the site again this month, with the council told the area had been left in a "disgusting state".

Councillor Stuart West said he was confident it would stop the travellers from returning

He said: "After this has been done there won't be an area for them, unless they want to park their caravans down a cliff.

"There won't be a flat area for them to put their vehicles on. You are right, it's a disgusting state.

"But if you have got a mound or a trench you can't physically put a caravan on there, so this is the best way forward."

Councillor Sandra Trickett said: "The police have the powers but they won't move them on.

"They do it at West Midlands Police, but West Mercia and Warwickshire Police won't do it for some reason."

Councillor West said the issue was complicated as officers had to make a time-consuming application to magistrates court to get a removal order.

But he added: "We couldn't move them on last time because one of the women on there was pregnant and it was a human rights issue.

"It was just ridiculous."

The site is chosen regularly by travellers, and there has previously been some confusion over the ownership of the land, with neither Shropshire Council nor Highways England taking responsibility for the ownership of it.

A group of travellers pitched up on the land in January and December last year, and the site was also occupied in May and August the year before that. Motorists coming off the M54 for a break were faced with a string of caravans and several horses tied up at the side of the road, along with a number of dogs.

Shropshire Council highways officers had ploughed up sections of the verge in an attempt to stop caravans returning, although it appears not to have worked.