BRISTOL City Council has confirmed that it will tell people living in vans and caravans on the side of a Fishponds street to leave from next week.
The council has designated Goodneston Road as a ‘high impact’ site where action needs to be taken due to the effect of the large encampment on the local community.
There have been more than 100 complaints to the council since August about fly-tipping, faeces, needles and syringes, abandoned vehicles, drug dealing and even theft of electricity from streetlamps in the road.
Last week one caravan was destroyed and another badly damaged (above, centre and right) in a suspected arson attack.
A small number of vans had been parked in the street, alongside the former Graphic Packaging International factory, for more than a year but last summer there was an influx of new vehicles, after the council cleared another encampment in Eastville.
‘Seriously impacting’ the community
In a statement sent to the Voice today, the chair of the council’s homes and housing delivery committee, Councillor Barry Parsons, said: “Due to significant issues in the area, we have concluded that the group of lived-in vehicles on Goodneston Road is seriously impacting on the local community, environment, and overall location.
“Therefore, following our new policy, we will start enforcement action next week, by engaging with the vehicle dwellers and conducting welfare assessments.
“People will be given advice and signposted to relevant support services.
“We will direct the vehicle dwellers to leave the area and give them time to do this.
“We hope to achieve this through voluntary co-operation wherever possible.
“If people do not comply with this request, we will take further enforcement action as is appropriate.”
‘Unacceptable for everyone involved’
Hillfields ward councillors Ellie King and Kelvin Blake (pictured below by the caravans last summer) welcomed the fact that the council is “finally taking action”.
They said: “We have long been clear this situation is unacceptable for everyone involved – residents shouldn’t have to deal with excrement and fly-tipping on our streets, nor should van dwellers be expected to live without basic sanitation facilities.
“We have been working continually on this issue for months to get action from the council and the administration.
“We have been campaigning hard for this to be designated a ‘high impact’ site which would mean enforcement action can take place and the caravans can then be moved.
“The encampment has seen fires, criminal damage, crime, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, drug dealing and human waste – completely unacceptable, especially so near a school where children are expected to travel past every day.
“Finally, after much resistance, we are pleased to say the council has now done a thorough assessment of the site and agrees this has ‘a serious impact on the local community, environment and overall location’.”
The councillors said enforcement action will begin next Monday, when the van dwellers will be given seven days’ notice to leave before.
They added: “It will be a few more weeks until the situation is fully resolved…we hope the area will feel cleaner, safer and more accessible soon.”