Traveller brazenly advertises ‘land grab’ plot a week before diggers turned up: How illegal caravan sites are being put up for sale on Facebook before they’ve even been built

A traveler thought to be involved in turning the wildlife refuge into an illegal caravan park brazenly revealed plans for the site a week before construction work was due to start over the May bank holiday weekend, the Daily Mail has revealed.

Martin Mongan has advertised for ‘off-plan’ buyers for one of his yet-to-be-built caravan sites, highlighting the site’s proximity to Stansted Airport and the Essex town of Braintree.

The married father-of-two shared the architect’s drawings of the site, which was then still a green space, before it was built in the same way without planning permission on May 1, just hours after council offices closed.

The land grab was part of a trend of travelers building unauthorized developments during long weekends when city crews were home. They then apply for retrospective planning permission to make them permanent.

The drawings shared by Mr Mongan show 12 identical plots of land near the village of Felsted; each has spaces resembling two mobile homes and a travel trailer.

The pitches are surrounded by amenity spaces, with two access points connecting the site to nearby trails. Aerial photos show that development is now well underway.

Irish traveler Mr Mongan, who has roots in Galway, wrote alongside his post: ‘Land for sale. Five miles from Braintree. 14 miles from Stansted Airport. There is no pricing. Send me a message if you’re interested.’

It was stated that one of the 12 fields was for sale.

He also put the same caption over a picture of the four-acre site before it was cemented in a military-style operation Friday evening.

BEFORE: The area said to be home to protected great crested newts, ahead of the May bank holiday weekend. Rare albino fallow deer was also seen here

THEN: An army of workers descended on the four-acre site on Friday, hours after the local district council closed its doors

The Mail can also reveal that Mr Mongan attempted to arrange a large delivery of solid materials laid on the ground ahead of construction work to the Braintree area on May 31.

He wrote: ‘There are approximately 20 lorry drivers present in the Braintree area on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter bank holiday weekend. We have 120/150 loads to collect from Dagenham.

‘If you can supply that many trucks and do the job [sic]send me a private message. Cheers.’

He is understood to have offered tens of thousands of pounds for the job but there was no one to do it until the May bank holiday

Land in the historic Essex hamlet of Willows Green now belongs to two cousins, travelers in the area said Tuesday.

They claimed the site was being developed illegally because families were desperate to find a place to live.

Traveler campaigners have long argued that they have no choice but to take advantage of planning laws because 90 per cent of traveler site planning applications are rejected. By contrast, about 40 percent or more of those made retroactively are approved.

But Mr Mongan’s announcement of the sale of one of the sites to a third party calls into question the claim of a united community looking for a place to live.

One exasperated neighbor of the new site said: ‘Trying to sell a plot of land without any planning permission before it is built is stupid. Talk about speculative development.

‘This appears to be a commercial venture rather than housing needs and Uttlesford Council needs to be aware of this and what is actually going on.’

Mr Mongan, an Irish traveler from Galway, claimed he had posted the ad on someone else’s behalf

The Mail can also reveal that Mr Mongan attempted to arrange large deliveries of hard materials, which were laid on the ground ahead of construction work, to the Braintree area on May 31.

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

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

The statement said: ‘We are aware of local concerns about the land but there have been no breaches of planning control at this stage.

‘The planning application is a reactive service; This means the council can only take formal action if a breach occurs. It cannot take action before a violation occurs.

‘Should unauthorized development occur we will respond in accordance with our planning implementation plan.’

A few hours after the council closed on Friday, an army of workers, vehicles and machines landed.

Using lights and generators, excavators began to turn the grass hard and ready for asphalt. About 30 cars, vans and machinery were seen in the area today.

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

Local Conservative MP James Cleverly was the only public official to visit the site on Saturday, posting a video of its entrance.

He later published a letter to Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, calling for changes to the law to prevent travelers being given retroactive permission for unauthorized sites.

This is a method of working that has been used in the development of many sites across the country over the last 25 years.

Vegetation was removed to prepare the ground for a solid, asphalt foundation. On Sunday, aerial photos showed fencing had already been installed as diggers continued to lay rubble

About 30 vehicles, including cars, pickup trucks and several diggers, were wheeled onto the site under cover of darkness on Friday.

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

Meanwhile, residents said they were unable to contact city officials until Tuesday, when officials would issue a statement.

It reads: ‘Uttlesford Council is aware of allegations of unauthorized development on land near Willows Green and understands the concern this causes locally.

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

‘There are limited details we can provide at this stage, given possible subsequent actions, but we would like to reassure residents that the situation is extremely significant and appropriate action can be taken in line with our legal powers.’

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

He appears to be involved in the used and scrap car business, according to his business card, which he posted on Facebook and bears the same mobile phone number he used to advertise the pitch.

The same number is also used for some businesses said to be headquartered at the council-run Willen Traveler Caravan Estate in Newport Pagnell.

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

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

He denied involvement in the illegal development and said any questions about the site should be directed to the people occupying it.

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

On Tuesday evening, the district council finally issued a cease and desist notice in the area to prevent further development.

Convicted drug dealer Chad Brady, who appeared outside Hull Crown Court last year, was listed as a former director of the company that bought the site

According to the residents of the neighborhood, most of the machines were removed from the construction site, but the fence construction work continued yesterday.

One of them said: ‘Council must now enforce stop notices.’

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

The firm paid £125,000 in cash to the previous owner of the land on 29 April 2025, with a surplus deed arrangement in place to pay him further if the value of the land continued to increase.

Companies House records identify one of its directors as Chad Brady, a 31-year-old from Yorkshire.

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

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

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

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

Also on the list are David Malcolm Kaye, who ran more than 500 companies, most of which have closed, and Lauren Anne Connell, 31, who ran 33 closed firms and four active companies.

Uttlesford District Council has been contacted for comment on the disclosures.