Families living in Cotswolds beauty spot say it has been ruined by travellers who bulldozed their way onto a site with no permission – then set up fortress including CCTV cameras to keep people out

Angry residents say a Cotswolds beauty spot has been ruined by travellers who bulldozed their way onto a site that they have not got permission to live on, despite the council trying to stop it happening for 17 years.

People in Kayte Lane, a rural spot below Cleeve Hill, in Southam, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, feared for years that the unauthorised occupation of the land would happen before it finally did in May last year. 

And they claim not enough has been done by the authorities to prevent it from happening.

Tewkesbury Borough Council first obtained a court order in 2007 to try to protect the greenbelt land and insists it is still doing all it can to protect the site, which is close to Cheltenham Racecourse, from being developed. 

The council had been trying to prevent unauthorised occupation of the site for 17 years 

It refused a retrospective planning application from the travellers in November last year, after receiving more than 200 objections, but they have lodged an appeal which will now be decided by the Planning Inspectorate.

Sixteen caravans plus several cars and vans have recently been on the site, which the travellers moved onto over the late spring bank holiday of 2023. 

They have laid down hardstanding in the field, put up a high wooden fence along the edge of it and installed CCTV cameras, some of which overlook their neighbours.

One Kayte Lane resident, who did not want to be identified, said the travellers used a bulldozer to clear vegetation from parts of the site when they moved on to it.

He said it should not have been allowed to happen and a beauty spot had been spoiled by being converted into a caravan site.

‘It’s greenbelt, open aspect land. There used to be sheep and horses on it. It was grazing land, basically.

Sixteen caravans plus several cars and vans have recently been on the site, which the travellers moved onto over the late spring bank holiday of 2023

A general view of the site before it was occupied by the travellers from Google StreetView

‘Tewkesbury Borough Council don’t enforce anything. We’re fighting against a brick wall.

‘We’ve got an 8ft high fence there now. We used to be able to see the village of Southam. We can’t any more.

‘There’s noise from machinery, sometimes until 10pm. They’re still doing work now and they shouldn’t be there,’ he said.

Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: ‘If they get away with it, everybody will get away with it.

‘They came on the second bank holiday in May last year with a bulldozer and flattened the ground. We used to look out onto green fields.

‘It’s supposed to have post and wire fencing, with animals in there.

‘At night the place is lit up like a Christmas tree, from solar lights.’

The man’s wife said: ‘At nighttime, it lights up the area. It’s horrible.’

She said CCTV on the travellers’ fencing made residents feel like they were being watched and she and her husband had considered moving house.

Residents are, in conjunction with Southam Parish Council, trying to raise at least £10,000 to fund a planning specialist to represent them at the appeal hearing and future relevant meetings.

Tewkesbury Borough Council said, in a statement: ‘We have been investigating two unauthorised gypsy/traveller sites at Kayte Lane. 

‘One of these sites, known as Green Orchard, recently obtained planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate, overturning the council’s refusal of permission.

‘A planning appeal against the council’s decision to refuse planning permission at the other larger site has been submitted and this remains pending at this time.

‘Both sites are subject to a High Court Injunction and legal proceedings which remain pending at this time.’

The travellers have been approached for comment.