Berrow Parish Council is finalising plans to build a £5,000 grass bank around the Village Green to prevent travellers pitching up there in future.
It comes after more than 30 travellers set up camp on the grassland at the end of the July for several weeks, as pictured above.
Berrow Parish Council Chairman Barry Kew, right, told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: “We’ve looked at two options – installing bollards or a grass bund around the green.”
“The bollards would be fastest to install along the front of the green, however in a meeting with a contractor it emerged that there are pipes running under the ground which we’d have to avoid.”
“Due to this, the bollards would need to be installed two metres in from the pavement and that would leave enough space for a caravan to be parked between the barrier and the road which isn’t ideal.”
He added: “We’ve therefore had a rethink and will almost certainly go with a grass bund along the whole length of the green with the exception of a couple of 1.2m gaps for wheelchair and buggy users. We will have to submit a planning application for the new bank and expect it to cost in the region of £5-6,000 to install, which will have to come from Parish Council funds.”
Barry added: “The whole thing has been a nightmare scenario for us, but we’ve looked around the country and it seems there’s not a place in the whole UK that hasn’t had to deal with similar issues at some point.”
Pictured: The scenes on Berrow Village Green in late July when the travellers set up camp there
