Travellers set up camp close to town centre

LOCAL residents have expressed concerns as reports of travellers moving around the town setting up camp have emerged this week.

The travellers were last sighted over the weekend on the Butler Tanner and Dennis site close to the town centre.

Prior to this, they had made Rodden Nature Reserve their temporary home. The land, which is owned by Asda supermarket, had seen many comings and goings over the past couple of weeks, with Asda having to issue a notice for grazing horses to be removed from the nature reserve. The horses were removed by their owners shortly before the deadline given.

Days later, five caravans arrived and the arrival of the travellers on the reserve caused a stir on social media amongst the local community.

Jess Moore on Facebook said, “No regard whatsoever for the nature around them.” Sara Corbett speculated, “This is their payback for making them take their “fly grazed” horses off the land.”

A spokesperson for Asda at the time said, “We’re aware of the current situation and have informed the police and local authorities. The store is operating as normal with no disruption for customers.”

With the travellers having now moved on to the old Butler Tanner and Dennis site, it is now the responsibility of the owners of the land to take action. Chris Stringer from Frome Town Council said, “We are aware that travellers are in the town, however because they are on privately-owned land and not on land owned by the council, we would not get involved.”