ALVESTON residents have expressed their anger after travellers again invaded the village green, despite calling for years for defences to be installed.

Travellers arrived on the green space off Down Road on Thursday, September 6, and stayed until they were evicted on Tuesday, September 18.

A meeting of Alveston Parish Council on Monday was attended by around 20 residents, many of whom showed their displeasure at being in the ‘same position again’.

One resident said: “We have had this conversation almost three years ago.”

Another added: “People are intimidated. We have got a right to live without fear.”

Councillor Rob Creer, cabinet member for corporate resources at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), was also in attendance at the meeting and shared his frustration.

“I am sorry it has taken longer than necessary, it’s not a case that SGC isn’t acting.

“They know what their rights are and they know what to do to play the system.

“If they want to stay there is very little you can do.

“It’s really a frustration that we have this situation,” he said.

He explained the region had a particular problem with travellers due to it lying both on the route south towards Cornwall and from the route from South Wales towards London and Kent.

Cllr Creer also pointed out South Gloucestershire Council had safeguarding responsibilities to traveller communities if they arrived on their land but did express a need to find ‘ways of protecting Alveston’ against future travellers in order to ensure the village remained a ‘beautiful place to live’.

Residents called for a bund to be placed around the green to prevent caravans from being able to access it.

It was pointed out there are a number of utilities running underneath the site, complicating any work that is done there.

Chairman of Alveston Parish Council, Marcus Fry, called for there to be a public meeting to discuss the problem and for the two councils to ‘work closer together’.

A workshop is to be set up to achieve a ‘formal dialogue’ between the two councils.

The Parish Council also expressed their appreciation for Cllr Creer’s attendance at the meeting having previously been ‘stonewalled’ by SGC.

Parish councillor Anne Curtis hinted that the village had other problems to worry about.

“The travellers will be gone tomorrow and the kids taking drugs won’t be,” she said.

A South Gloucestershire Council spokesman said: “The encampment at Alveston Down arrived on Friday 7 September. There are no welfare issues and in line with established procedures, legal paperwork has now been served to the families and we have a hearing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday, September 17 for a removal order.”

A later statement added: “The order was made and served yesterday (September 17), and the site was vacated at midday today (September 18).”