After notice served and park shut 'in the interests of public safety'

Travellers who'd been at Gunnersbury Park since Sunday have departed on Wednesday evening (11th June) and moved on to Blondin Park. Hounslow Council estimates that the cost of providing security, clean-up and legal fees for the duration will cost £18,000.

Gunnersbury park was closed Wednesday afternoon at around 5pm and Hounslow Council served a notice giving the group until tomorrow to leave. Not long afterwards the travellers started to leave. The park is expected to reopen to visitors today after a clean up.

Now local residents near Blondin Park in Ealing say the caravans appeared this Wednesday evening at around 9pm. Witnesses say they have camped on the sports field. (pic below supplied by Paul Gage)

A council spokesperson said: "We are doing everything in our power to evict the travellers from Blondin Park as quickly and safely as possible. Legal proceedings are in motion and we are working with the police to see what else can be done. The group gained access to the park on Wednesday evening by breaking the lock on the gate. We have not yet assessed the cost of clearing rubbish or repairing damage caused by the group."

Northfields Councillor, David Millican, says he, along with his newly elected colleague, Theresa Mullins, have been to Blondin and met local residents and police. He says the travellers told police that they would only be there a few days.

Earlier, Hounslow Council shut Gunnersbury Park 'in the interests of public safety.' Park users had been horrified by rubbish that accumulated near the site.

Tom Jenkins from Ealing - who took the photos of the rubbish said: ''They obviously drove down the middle road from the car park and across the cricket pitch.

''They left tracks across the pitch and are leaving rubbish strewn across the field and driving their cars and vans in and out through the south east gate, across the footpath and field with little or no concern for the people walking in the park. A school sports day planned for today has been cancelled as a result. Added to this, in little over 24 hours the beautiful bluebell footpath has become a tip for several tons of building waste. This looks like at least 6 truck loads of rubble.''

Maggi Marmion who regularly walks her dogs in Gunnersbury said: ''It is really bad there - the rubbish piles are getting bigger and unfortunately there is human excrement there too! One of my dogs came back from sniffing around the rubbish covered in it!

''I walked past their 'camp' yesterday with a few fellow dog walkers and a car with two young guys in it came speeding across the field at 30+ miles per hour! I told them to slow down and just got abuse back! They nearly hit one of the little dogs! I must say it is very upsetting to see this destruction they make to our beautiful park.''

June 11, 2014