Essex News & Investigations

UTTLESFORD Council has vowed to hold an emergency meeting over what to do about the continued occupation of the unauthorised traveller site at Willows Green, protesting villagers have said. Last night more than 100 residents of the picturesque hamlet, near Felstead, Essex, staged a protest outside the council offices in Saffron Walden after losing their patience with the authority over its apparent unwillingness to return to court to seek compliance with a High Court injuncti

RESIDENTS who have lost faith in the alleged inaction from a council that has been accused of failing to take action against an illegal traveller site have said they will stage a peaceful protest outside its offices. The planned protest follows four months of growing anger in the hamlet of Willows Green, near Felstead, Essex, over what residents describe as a "gross failure" to take effective enforcement action against the unauthorised development of agricultural land north o

A COUNCIL has caused fury among residents by collecting bin bags from travellers who illegally racked up a site over a bank holiday weekend and are now living there in breach of a High Court injunction. Dumbstruck residents of the Willows Green site near the historic village of Felstead in Essex have seen council refuse trucks collecting household waste left outside the site on Tuesdays when they do the normal collections in the hamlet. The site was developed over the first M

THIS was the scene outside an Ilford pub after a large group of travellers turned up for a drink. Several police vehicles, including at least four cars and two vans, including three from the Territorial Support Group (TSG), were filmed in the roads bordering the Prince of Wales in Green Lane, on Sunday evening. There were groups of people outside and several police officers near the beer garden trying to disperse them. The story was first broken by our sister Tiktok account @

TRAVELLERS who set up camp on a Braintree field moved off this evening (Sunday, July 5 2026). About 15 caravans with utility trucks and other vehicles pulled onto the field west of the A131 between Broad Road and Coggeshall Road (A120) earlier this week. The caravans had been spread out across the entire field south of Thistley Green Road. However, this evening, from about 7pm, they began to group together before leaving the site. Just before 9pm a lone security guard, who go

THIS is the dramatic moment one of three men who took part in an attempted murder with shotguns was arrested by armed police officers. It has been released by Essex Police after the trio were jailed for a total of 44 years thanks to an investigation by specialist officers into a shooting incident in Crays Hill. Thanks to the meticulous work of our Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Johnny Smith, 20, Donny Archer, 27, and Nelson Buckland, 21, were convicted on Thursday 12

UTTLESFORD Council has failed to answer our questions over why it apparently had no contingency plan in place despite knowing in advance that travellers may start developing an unauthorised caravan site at Willows Green, Felsted, Essex, over the last bank holiday. Our fair and founded questions were put to the local authority more than two weeks ago, but it has yet to respond. Due to the silence, we will now be asking for the same information using the Freedom of Information

UTTLESFORD Council has secured an interim High Court injunction against further development at the Willows Green unlawful traveller site. Notices about the injunction were placed on gates and fancing at the site late yesterday (May 7 2026). It has been served on one of the landowner, Irish traveller, Anthony Mongan and persons unknown. Anyone who breaches the injunction could face prison for contempt of court. Don't hold your breath.... Uttlesford Council had earlier said in

RESIDENTS of a parish which hosts an historic school attended by Oliver Cromwell's sons will be on red alert over the bank holiday weekend amid fears a nearby agricultural field could be targeted for the construction of the country's latest unauthorised traveller site. Felsted is best known for the stunning private school of the same name founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, the first Baron Rich, who served as Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of King Edward VI from 154

ENVIRONMENT Agency (EA) chiefs have praised themselves for shutting a huge suspected illegal waste site a year after first becoming aware of it - which allowed it to mushroom into one of the biggest in the country. An EA spokesman said: "In yet more forceful action, concrete blocks now guard the entrance to a field in the quintessentially English village of Stapleford Tawney, in unassuming stockbroker belt Essex. "A court agreed the Essex land could be closed off, preventing