Traveller overtly advertises ‘land seize’ plot per week earlier than diggers turned up: How unlawful caravan websites are being put up on the market on Facebook earlier than they’ve even been constructed

A traveller believed to have been involved in turning a wildlife haven into an illegal caravan park brazenly revealed plans for the site a week before construction work began over the May bank holiday weekend, the Daily Mail can reveal. 

Martin Mongan advertised for ‘off-plan’ buyers for one of the yet-to-be-built caravan pitches in a Facebook post highlighting the site’s proximity to Stansted Airport and the Essex town of Braintree. 

The married father-of-two shared architect’s drawings of the site – which at that point was still a green field – before it went on to be built in the same way without planning permission on May 1, hours after council offices closed. 

The land grab was part of a trend that sees travellers build unauthorised developments over long weekends when council enforcement teams are at home. They then apply for retrospective planning permission in a bid to make them permanent. 

Drawings shared by Mr Mongan show the site near the village of Felsted with 12 identical plots – each with space for what looks like two mobile homes and a touring caravan. 

The pitches are surrounded by space for amenities, with two access points linking the site to nearby roads. Aerial photos show the development is now well underway. 

Mr Mongan, an Irish traveller with roots in Galway, wrote next to his post: ‘Plot for sale. Five miles from Braintree. Fourteen miles from Stansted Airport. No pricers. If interested, message me.’

One of the 12 pitches was ringed as being for sale.

He laid the same caption over an image of the four-acre field before it was concreted over in a military-style operation from Friday evening.

The Mail can also reveal that Mr Mongan was trying to arrange huge deliveries of hardcore – solid materials laid on ground before construction work – to the Braintree area on May 31. 

He wrote: ‘Any truck drivers available over the Easter bank holiday weekend Friday and Saturday in the Braintree area about 20 trucks. We’ve got 120/150 loads we need collected from Dagenham.

‘If you can supply the amount of trucks and able to do the job [sic], give me a private message. Cheers.’

It is understood he offered tens of thousands of pounds for the job but no one was available to do it until the May bank holiday 

On Tuesday, travellers at the site said the land, in the historic Essex hamlet of Willows Green, was now owned by two cousins. 

They claimed the site was developed unlawfully as the families were desperate for somewhere to live.

Traveller campaigners have long argued they have no choice but to exploit planning laws because 90 percent of traveller site planning applications are refused. By contrast,  about 40 per cent or more of those made retrospectively are approved.

However, the fact Mr Mongan was advertising one of the pitches for sale to third parties questions the claim of a united community seeking somewhere to live.

One fed-up neighbour of the new site said: ‘The cheek of it trying to sell a plot without any planning permission before it is built. Talk about speculative development.

‘This seems to be more of a commercial venture than about housing needs and Uttlesford Council needs to be aware of this and what is really going on.’

On Thursday last week, the Mail exclusively revealed the site was at risk of being illegally developed over the bank holiday and that Uttlesford District Council and Felsted Parish Council had been warned in advance.

But the district council – which is responsible for planning enforcement – said there was nothing it could do until any work started.

It said in a statement: ‘We are aware of local concerns regarding the land, however, at this stage no breach of planning control has occurred. 

‘Planning enforcement is a reactive service – this means the council can only take formal action once a breach has taken place. It cannot act before a breach has occurred.

‘Should unauthorised development occur, we will respond in accordance with our planning enforcement plan.’

Within hours of the council closing on Friday, an army of workers, vehicles and machinery pulled onto the land.

Using lights and generators, diggers began turning over grass ready for hardcore and asphalt. About 30 cars, vans and machines were seen on the site in today. 

Work continued the following morning as shocked residents awoke to the nightmare. There was no district council response until Tuesday.

Local Tory MP James Cleverly was the only public servant to have visited the site on Saturday, when he posted a video from its entrance.

He then posted a letter he wrote to Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, demanding a change in the law to prevent travellers being granted retrospective permission for unauthorised sites. 

It is a modus operandi that has been used to develop scores of sites across the country over the past 25 years.

The council does not appear to have put any contingency plan in place. 

Meanwhile, residents said they were unable to make contact with council officials until Tuesday, when the authority releasing a statement. 

This read: ‘Uttlesford Council is aware of the alleged unauthorised development on land near Willows Green and understands the concern this has caused locally.

‘Officers are working at pace to assess the activity on site and gather evidence before considering the full range of enforcement options available.

‘Given the potential actions that may follow, we are limited in the detail we can provide at this stage, but we want to reassure residents that the situation is of paramount importance and that appropriate action may be taken in line with our statutory powers.’

Mr Mongan is from Milton Keynes, according to his Facebook page.

He appears to be in the used and scrap car trades, according to a business card he posted on Facebook that had the same mobile phone number he used to advertise the pitch.

The same number is used with a number of businesses that are said to be based at the council-run Willen Traveller Caravan Site in Newport Pagnell.

Numerous Facebook photos show Mr Mongan on holiday with his wife and their children. 

Mr Mongan answered the number used on his advert for the plot, but claimed he had only posted it on behalf of someone else.

He denied being involved in the unlawful development and said any questions about the site should be addressed to the people occupying it. 

He said it was a bad line so we sent further questions about the site via text, asking about the impact on neighbouring residents, but there was no further response.

On Tuesday evening, the district council finally served a stop notice at the site preventing any further development.

According to residents much of the machinery has been removed from the site but work to construct fencing was continuing yesterday. 

One said: ‘The council should now be enforcing the stop notices.’

The land is registered as being owned by UK Real Estate and Land 2 Limited. 

The firm paid £125,000 cash to the previous owner for the land on April 29 2025, with an overage deed arrangement to pay him more if its value goes on to increase. 

Companies House records list one of its directors as Chad Brady, a 31-year-old Yorkshireman. 

Brady was named at Hull Crown Court last year as the manager of a lucrative cocaine dealing operation in the seaside town of Bridlington.

The shameless criminal recruited his own sister as a £150-a-day runner but was busted after sending bulk advertising messages to locals.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 200 hours’ unpaid work and 10 days’ rehabilitation.

Brady resigned as a director of UK Real Estate and Land 2 Limited last January as the court case was underway. He is the director of 17 other dissolved companies and three active ones, one of which describes itself as a yoga school.

Also listed are David Malcolm Kaye, a director of more than 500 companies, most of which have been dissolved, and 31-year-old Lauren Anne Connell, who has directed 33 dissolved firms and four active ones.

Uttlesford District Council has been contacted for comment about the revelations.