RESIDENTS in Winyates are walking their dogs along different routes after a traveller camp sprung up off Ibstock Close yesterday (April 30).
The site, consisting of three caravans and 4 vehicles inluding people-carriers and vans, has been set up along a public footpath behind Ibstock Close.
Residents understand the travellers are gaining access to the grassy area by driving their vehicles along the narrow public footpaths.
Wooden posts prevent vehicles from gaining access to the footpaths but the entrance off Oxleasow Road is missing one such bollard.
The gap leaves enough room for a vehicle to pass through and to be able to drive down the footpath behind East Moons Moat Industrial Estate.
A resident, who has lived in Winyates for 35 years, said she has never known travellers to settle in the area before.
She added she has been considering whether to take her dog on their usual route along the footpath but after encountering the travellers’ three barking dogs, she would chose a different path.
Another dog-walker who has lived on Ibstock Close since 1980 agreed.
She said she had seen the vehicles drive past her house, along the footpath, three times this morning and would also be walking her dog in a different direction.
The travellers confirmed they have had to use the footpaths to gain access as, if they left their vehicles on the road, they would be towed away by the morning.
Pat Colins, one of the travellers camping at the site, said: “We are on our way to Newcastle for a family gathering.
“We have been travelling for the past year and have stopped here for a bit of a rest.”
The families, of which there are four, say they will be leaving Winyates on Saturday.
