Now Travellers move on to academy site

MILLING around . . . the travellers encampment at Brook Mill

TRAVELLERS have moved on to a site intended for one of Oldham’s Academy Secondary Schools in Hollins.

Residents say that not long after Brook Mill, on Hollins Road, closed in preparation for the development a group of six caravans moved in.

The mill was closed on Friday and the travellers began to occupy the site yesterday.

One neighbour said: “Residents are up in arms. No sooner were they closing the mill and contractors boarding it up — which seemed very sudden — than travellers had moved on to the site.

“Someone must have been going around scouting. They drove up the road on to Oak Colliery’s open fields and on to the site. They are trespassing. They have moved on to a site that’s owned by the council.”

A council spokesman confirmed the land is now owned by the local authority and that the legal process had begun to remove the travellers. It is hoped they will have gone by tomorrow.

This is the latest in a long line of encampments in Oldham, provoking anger from residents and councillors.

A fortnight ago, travellers were evicted from St Anne’s School fields in Royton. They left the land a sea of churned up mud that will cost thousands to restore. A mechanical digger was used to get one of the caravans off the site.

The group then moved to the road at the side of Snipe Clough playing fields, while schoolchildren returning from their summer holidays were left with grounds that were described as looking more like a battlefield.

It can take up to five working days to get a court order to move travellers on and the case prompted calls for new laws to deal with them.

Oldham Councillor Mark Alcock said he would speak to other councils in the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) to urge the Government to grant extra powers.

In 2007, council clean-up costs soared to more than £50,000 after travellers rolled up at three sites, including Snipe Clough playing fields which cost £40,000 to repair.

Christian charity Oasis will run the academy, to specialise in maths, computing and business and enterprise, which will replace Kaskenmoor School and South Chadderton.