Travellers arrived last night and are camped on the vacant site on Knights Hill at the corner with Chapel Road. The police and Cllr Sonia Winifred visited today. The traveller say they are staying for a few days over the bank holiday weekend.
The police will monitor the site over the weekend but there are “no aggravating factors’ requiring immediate action. They will also try to contact the owners of the land. It is believed the land is owned by a cash & carry business in Tooting.
If anyone has concerns please contact the local police on 101 (or 999 if an emergency). Should you need to contact Lambeth’s Noise team over the weekend phone 020 7926 5999.
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Good to see they’re enjoying a weekend away at the West Norwood campsite! On a serious note, whoever owns this plot of land should either ensure that it’s properly secured to stop this kind of thing happening (this isn’t the first time that we’ve been visited by our travelling friends over the last year), or do something with it.
It’s great that this land is being used for something at last.
Unbelievable that in 2015 the council and councillors ( who have ignored correspondence) seem to turn a blind eye to the fact that this is NOT a suitable place for families and their children to live. why have they left this issue with the land for so long ?
No sanitation, toilets or clean water. It is also totally unfair on local residents some of whom are selling their properties.
The landowner is shocking- no regard at all for local residents . he should have securely monitored his land and looked after it.
This is actually a safeguarding and child protection issue … for all involved.
The landowner has been to court to get an eviction notice. With this the police can then use Section 61 powers (of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act) to direct the travellers to leave.
My bank holiday weekend ended on Monday!
I was under the impression that this was council owned land, this is from an email that I received from a councillor, but please correct me ( and councillor) if wrong:
Thanks for getting in touch with us via the West Norwood News web site. Sorry about the delay – your post seems to have got lost in the system.
The area from Chapel Road to West Norwood Station is a Key Industrial Business Area (KIBA) for town planning purposes. With land prices for housing as they are it is essential to have strong Planning policies to preserve land for any non-housing use.
The West Norwood Masterplan published in 2009 considered the whole of West Norwood including the KIBA and recommended a way forward for the KIBA .Unfortunately the global economic downturn meant private investors were not investing and there have been no successful planning applications for the corner site on Chapel Rd & Knights Hill since then.
The council is now hoping to review the Masterplan in 2015 to reflect the recent development achievements in West Norwood and this will be an opportunity for residents and businesses to get involved .
The police turned up last night to issue the eviction notice. The travellers have 24 hours from then to leave so should be out by tonight. All that’s left then is for someone (the landowner) to clear the massive amounts of rubbish that they have amassed and left there. The travellers have denied to the police that the rubbish is theirs… I’ve seen them bringing it in daily.
I spoke to the landowner last night and he’s pushing forward to get planning permission for a cash and carry warehouse with housing on top. Not sure he’ll get that through and also not sure it’s right for an area that was once commercial/industrial but is now largely becoming a nice residential community.
These travellers are now on St Josephs College land just off Norbury Hill.