- Have travellers set up illegally in your area? Email eleanor.mann@dailymail.co.uk
A large group of travellers have taken over a council car park in Birmingham, as the council have vowed to take action.
Caravans arrived in droves at Billesley Common, off Yardley Wood Road, since Monday.
The vehicles parked near to the entrance of Moseley Rugby Club, which remains open to the public.
Local political candidates and campaigners Sullimam Khan and Sanjida Chishty said they had alerted the ‘council as a matter of urgency.’
The council said previously: ‘The council is committed to actively protecting its land and will take steps to recover this land where unauthorised encampments encroach upon it.’
Moseley Rugby Football Club lease part of the common for their pitches, clubhouse and 5,000 all-seater stand.
A large convoy of vehicles moved in to Billesley Common from Monday
Billesley Indoor Tennis Centre is also based at the park and has indoor and outdoor tennis courts and a gym.
The site is a haven for wildlife and a magnet for walkers, joggers, people with dogs and families.
Haunch Brook runs through the middle of the common.
Other facilities include a children’s playground, a football pitch and outdoor gym equipment.
This month, homeowners in a Surrey hamlet were left fearing that their million-pound properties were worthless after travellers paved over greenbelt land and moved in dozens of caravans without permission.
Residents of picturesque Shipley Bridge claimed they were under siege from a traveller ‘invasion’ and were left ‘outnumbered’ after at least ten pitches with around 70 caravans were set up along one 750-metre stretch of country lane.
They said the council failed to get a grip on the situation – with travellers able to build what they wanted first and asked for permission later.