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A mobile police station has been positioned on Townshend Avenue in Irby after three families from the travelling community moved onto a recently purchased plot of green belt land.
According to reports from the Wirral Globe, residents began noticing activity on the site early last week. The land next to the road was sold over three weeks ago, as the previous owner did not secure planning permission for a housing development they wanted to build.
Locals said they saw a crane and two large excavators on the land. Community support officers were also witnessed speaking to construction workers. Merseyside Police have also claimed the mobile police station is there purely in a reassurance capacity.
Sarah Stanley, whose 96-year-old grandmother lives on the street, described the situation to the publication as "quite intimidating". She approached the site to speak to the new arrivals directly.
"They said they were a family of three, and they're travellers, and they are going to be living here," she said. When Sarah pointed out the land was green belt and that there "wasn't a spot of green left", she claims they told her gardens would be put in place.
"I'm not stupid," Sarah said. "If you wanted to do gardens, you wouldn't gravel it. I've seen the digger. I've seen the crane. They're laying foundations."
Mahi De Silva, who lives on Townshend Avenue with his wife, first noticed trucks arriving on Wednesday morning at around 8:30 am. "I came back around midday," he said. "And it was all gone. All the green, the grass, there was nothing there. It was all gone."
Mahi said he received no notice about what was happening and expressed concern about his property.
Another resident, Joyce Rossington, said vehicles had started arriving from Monday, but excavation began "in earnest" from Wednesday. Living alone, she said she feels "unsafe" and has bought another keysafe. "It's intimidating, of course it is."
A member of the group named Thomas confirmed to the Wirral Globe that builders were "just laying fencing and hardcore" and claimed plans had been submitted to the council.
The problem with this occupation is that the land here was legally purchased, so the council cannot evict the owners. However, they can issue enforcement notices if planning regulations are breached. If any occupants ignore the notices, they can be criminally liable.
Ward councillor Mark Skillicorn described this as an "unprecedented scenario" for Wirral Council. He said senior members of the planning department, the council's legal teams and police were all working together to move injunctions and appropriate enforcement "imminently".
