On Friday morning, Jack Lopresti MP met with Cllr. Ernie Brown, Cllr. Brian Allinson and Cllr. Keith Cranney of Stoke Gifford ward to discuss the recent incidents regarding illegal traveller camps at Forty Acres that resulted in £3800 of damage.
After learning about Stoke Gifford Parish Council’s experience evicting the traveller camp from their land, only for a traveller camp to be set up three miles away, Jack Lopresti MP will be writing to the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government, Secretary of State for Justice, and the Home Secretary. In 2014 and 2015 when traveller camps appeared in Bradley Stoke, Jack spoke in Parliament asking questions about the legislation and powers available to local authorities. The Government believed that current laws were sufficient but their implementation differed between police authorities so Jack will be asking these questions again to see if anything can be done to ensure that the application of the law is not a postcode lottery.
Jack Lopresti MP will be arranging a meeting with the Police & Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable to handover the catalogue of complaints he received from constituents as well as those logged by the Parish Council so that the police response can be thoroughly reviewed.