The traveller Bank Holiday land grabs: Army of workers using diggers and lorries drag caravans into villages across Kent and Essex – as councils close for long weekend

Travelers used diggers and trucks to drag caravans into villages in south-east England in another bank holiday land grab.

To the dismay of locals, rural areas in Essex and Kent have become the latest areas to be targeted as council offices were closed at the weekend.

Industrial diggers worked much of the May bank holiday weekend laying rubble on land in Hoath, Canterbury, as commuters ignored a warning to stop issued by Canterbury City Council on Friday.

A fence was leveled to make way for the entrance, and by Sunday a static caravan had already been installed.

A planning application to place three caravans on the site was rejected by the council a month ago after officers said it would be a ‘harmful form of development’.

The countryside is also thought to be home to protected reptile species, breeding birds and foraging bats, according to a report by Kent County Council’s Ecological Advisory Service.

Canterbury City Council told the Daily Mail it would ‘make further checks towards the end of this week to ensure they are complied with’.

A council spokesman said: “We always take reports of unauthorized activity seriously and act as quickly as we can.”

Meanwhile, the underhanded tactic sparked the anger of Conservative MP James Cleverly after travelers destroyed a four-acre wildlife sanctuary in his Essex constituency.

A fence was leveled to make way for the entrance, and by Sunday static caravans were already in place.

An ‘illegal’ camp has been built on four acres of land in the historic village of Willows Green, near Felsted, Essex

The former Home Secretary accused the group on Saturday of ‘gaming the system’ after they began setting up an ‘illegal’ camp In the historic village of Willows Green near Felsted, Essex.

An army of workers arrived just hours after the local district council closed its doors for the bank holiday weekend on Friday.

In the Conservative MP’s constituency, around 30 vehicles, including cars, vans and several diggers, were wheeled onto the site under cover of darkness.

Vegetation was removed to prepare the ground for a solid, asphalt foundation. Today, aerial photos show fencing already in place as diggers continue to lay rubble.

Mr Cleverly was seen walking in a field near the site on Saturday and posted a video on Facebook demanding action.

‘That’s why we must take action to ensure that this type of construction work is carried out outside working hours, clearly aiming to game the system, and taking action decisively and quickly,’ he said.

‘Because the local community here knows it will inconvenience them and anyone who has tried to get a builder to start working out of hours on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend will know there is something wrong with it.’

This came just hours after Mr Cleverly suggested there was ‘two-tiered justice’ when it came to applying rules and laws to travellers.

Last week the Daily Mail identified the spot as one of the areas at risk of being targeted after a local council source warned of intelligence that travelers were planning to import thousands of tonnes of hardcore to develop a site this bank holiday weekend.

A ‘Private Property’ sign has already been placed on a wooden post holding up a barbed wire fence in Hoath, Canterbury.

The underhanded tactic sparked the anger of Conservative MP James Cleverly after travelers destroyed his four-acre wildlife haven in his Essex constituency

BEFORE: Villagers vent their anger after Uttlesford District Council failed to get a preventive emergency legal injunction in Willows Green

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

In an earlier video, Mr. Cleverly said:We often see situations where they are [travellers] ‘They move into the land they own without a lawyer, without any planning for implementation, they just build, build, build’.

He added: ‘Nobody else will be allowed to do this. When authorities try to take action, be it the city or the police, they are accused of racism to deter them from doing the right thing.

‘A system designed to protect people is being weaponized to enable them to do wrong things.’

Illegal development of the area It was sold by a farmer to a property company a year ago for £125,000.

It is believed to have since been marketed as around ten smaller plots amid fears some were bought by traveling community members.

Using floodlights and generators, several men worked through the night to build in the untouched countryside.

Residents in the picturesque hamlet whose homes face one side of the site saw work begin and awoke to see it continuing.

A man in his 60s said: ‘The council was warned it was possible but sat back and waited for it to happen.

‘The field was full of vehicles, noise and lights all night long. ‘There is no doubt that when the municipality reopens on Tuesday there will be a fully-fledged caravan park opposite our houses.’

There had been criticism ahead of the weekend that the district council had not taken any preventative measures, such as imposing a regulation known as the Article 4 Directive, which bans any generally permitted construction, such as fencing, on the site after hearing about plans to concrete the site.

Others said they might seek to obtain an emergency injunction banning any development, so if work were started it would be a criminal offence.

That’s what Basildon Council did in 2006 when it obtained a High Court injunction for land on Kennel Lane, near Billericay, before any development could begin after receiving information that the land had been purchased by travelers from Dale Farm.

The green belt area has never been subject to unauthorized construction after the injunction decision was taken.

But when the Daily Mail asked Uttlesford Council on Thursday whether there were any such plans or whether enforcement officers would be on hand with an emergency line for residents to call if they saw any suspicious activity, a spokesman simply urged residents to use the normal online reporting system and said the authority would not be able to take action until any developments began.

One resident said they were unaware of anything that was going to happen and neither the borough nor the neighborhood council warned them or asked them to be wary of suspicious activity.

He said: ‘We first found out about this when they appeared last night. They built a new access road by removing an old fence and filling the ditch with rubble.

‘This morning the road was blocked by six trucks carrying rubble and pallets. There are bulldozers and diggers on site, it’s a huge operation.

‘This is very scary and we don’t know what to do, it’s been a complete shock and we need to hear news of action from Uttlesford Council.’

A person helping the traveler community to obtain retrospective planning permission said the latest wave of development was partly due to some travelers renting out some or all of their sites to migrants and the homeless; This is a phenomenon recently reported by the Daily Mail.

He said: ‘There isn’t enough housing for anyone anymore, so some travelers rent their land to non-travelers and then move out and build new areas. ‘This cycle will continue to repeat as there is a housing crisis across the country.’

A spokesman for Uttlesford Council said on Thursday: ‘We are aware of local concerns about the land, but no breaches of planning control have occurred at this stage. The Site is not subject to any safeguards or Article 4 Directives.

‘The implementation of planning 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.’

After the work started, the council was contacted again to get an opinion.