.png)
PEOPLE POWER: Protest over lack of action over illegal Willows Green traveller site leads to 'promise of emergency meeting' by Uttlesford Council say residents
Sep 4
3 min read
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 injunction that bans any further development or continued occupation of the site which was secured four months ago.
Their frustration boiled over after East Herts Council took just 72 hours to secure and enforce a similar injunction after development of a site began in Sawbridgeworth over the last Bank Holiday weekend.
That council's swift action led to the development being halted in its tracks and no travellers moved on.
An Extraordinary Full Council Meeting is an urgent gathering of all elected local councillors called within seven days outside the normal schedule to handle urgent or high-priority business.
It deals with critical issues that cannot wait until the next regular council meeting, with a specific agenda limited to the urgent matters.
A Willows Green resident said: "The protest was good. Over 100 residents turned up. A member of the village committee spoke at the Scrutiny Committee which forced an Extraordinary Full Council \Meeting within seven days. A successful night all round."
Residents had waved banners stating "Sawbridgeworth 72 hours!!! Willows Green four months and counting", "UDC Do Your Job", "Our Village deserves better" and "Uttlesford Don't Care."
The unauthorised works began over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, between 1 and 4 May 2026.
UK News and Investigations has led the way with coverage of this issue and even revealed ahead of the unauthorised development that the council had been warned a few weeks earlier that thousands of tonnes of hardcore were due to be delivered to the field over the Bank Holiday weekend, but it did not appear to take any preemptive action or put any emergency contingency plan into place.
As soon as work began, on the evening of May 1, we revealed exclusive images of the development underway as residents reported to the council extensive engineering works, the laying of hardstanding and the arrival of caravans and mobile homes on land which had no planning permission for residential development
However, the council had no emergency reporting system for planning breaches in place and, as a result, did not respond until the Tuesday afterwards.
The council served a Temporary Stop Notice on 5 May, which came into effect the following morning.
The council then obtained an interim High Court injunction on 7 May, prohibiting further development, residential occupation, the arrival of additional caravans and the installation of services without lawful planning consent.
That injunction was subsequently made permanent in June. However, residents say the development and residential use of the land have continued.
The council has been contacted for comment for confirmation of the emergency talks.
A council statement on the matter previously said: "The injunction is contained in a High Court Order but its breach does not lead to an automatic criminal charge. A breach of the injunction has to be first proven in court and upon sufficient proof is normally dealt with as contempt of court. Breaches require strong and reliable evidence to support an application for contempt of court.
"If someone continues work or occupation contrary to a High Court injunction, that is usually dealt with as contempt of court.
"The normal route is that the council must gather evidence of the alleged breach and make a further application to the High Court. The court decides whether contempt has occurred and what sanction is appropriate. It is not the case that police officers can immediately arrest everyone present on site."
Sherrie Smith, an unofficial spokesperson for the site, said the families were terrified by the hostility of locals and feared for their children.
|The travellers have previously said they never intended to break any planning laws, but felt they had no choice due to a lack of official sites.
It is argued that planning laws are unfair against the traveller community with about 90 percent of applications made in advance rejected.
The families have now made a retrospective planning application in a bid to regularise the use of the 12 caravan pitch site.