Approved Judgment
Encampments were often associated with the depositing of waste, including fly tipping and the depositing of untreated human excrement. There was often a significant clean- up operation required, at great expense to either the council or the landowner, when the encampment was vacated. 22. Mr Johns gives evidence as to the effectiveness of the interim injunction granted in 2018. He says that in 2015 there were 28 encampments, in 2016 there were 40, and in 2017 there were 69. In the remainder of 2018, after the grant of the interim injunction, there were 21 encampments. In 2019, there were 10; in 2020, 13; in 2021, 9; in 2022, 10; in 2023, 12; in 2024, 6. And in the period up until the date of his statement, 25 April 2025, there were 2. 23. The duration of the encampments has also shown a significant decline since the grant of the Injunction. He attributes that to the “council’s ability to move encampments on from protected land swiftly and efficiently with the use of the injunction.” In 2015 the average duration for each encampment was 4.6 days; in 2016, 3.85 days; in 2017, 6.28 days; and in 2018, 1.09 days. In 2023 the average duration was 1.16 days, but for all the other years between 2019 and 2025 it was less than 24 hours. 24. Data collected by the council also shows that the reduction in the frequency and duration of encampments has significantly reduced the harm caused by unauthorised encampments. “In particular, the Borough was experiencing significant fly tipping that was associated with the formation of unauthorised encampments...often on a commercial scale.” I am told that the expression “commercial scale” was used to indicate both the volume of material deposited and also the fact that the fly-tipping was apparently done for profit. Clean up costs were over £25,000 in 2015; £23,000 in 2016; £87,000 in 2017; £944 in 2018 and zero ever since. 25. Mr Johns says that “the Borough’s business parks and industrial areas were often the main target for unauthorised encampments and… these areas suffered a disproportionate number of encampments… Following the grant of the interim injunction the Borough’s business parks and industrial areas were still targeted but there was a significantly reduced number”, down from 126 in 2015-2017 to 16 in 2023-2024. He explains that the Borough’s business and industrial areas are important for the wealth and prosperity of the Borough. 26. According to Mr. Johns, tension often arose between the settled local inhabitants and the Travelling community who were forming unauthorised encampments in the Borough. “The council often received reports of confrontations between members of these two communities...Local residents often became exasperated with the various nuisances associated with encampments.” He says that the council’s experience is that since the grant of the injunctions “reduced frequency and duration of encampments appears to have reduced tensions in the community.” He says that since the grant of the injunction in 2024, he has received no reports from members of the public of any threatening or intimidating behaviour from those forming unauthorised encampments. 27. Mr Johns also notes the disappearance of damage to green spaces or property, previously associated with unauthorised encampments, since the grant of the Injunction.
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