Travellers have set up camp at a popular Birmingham country park as the Easter holidays begin.
A group of Travellers in what appeared to be at least five caravans arrived at Sheldon Country Park’s main car park, volunteers said in a Sunday evening Facebook post.
The Friends of Sheldon Park added the camp had been ‘reported to the relevant council officers to deal with’.
Paul Tilsley, Sheldon’s council member, told the Daily Mail the group had been served with notice to leave the site, adding the park had been ‘invaded’ at least four times in the last year.
Mr Tilsley said the groups who stayed on the site lived ‘rent-free’, showed anti-social behaviour and left rubbish when evicted for ‘everybody else to clean up’.
The Daily Mail contacted Birmingham City Council to verify the camp’s status.
Mr Tilsley previously said: ‘It is a constant problem, Travellers moving from one park to another, parking up and dumping their rubbish for the council to clean up.’
Birmingham City Council said earlier on Monday it would ‘take steps to recover land where unauthorised encampments encroach upon it’.
Set on the city’s eastern side, Sheldon Park covers 300 acres and is a popular spot for families and children.
Entry is free year round and there are Jersey cattle, pigs, goats, geese and ponies kept on the grounds.
Described by Birmingham City Council as a ‘countryside in the city’ and a ‘wildlife haven’, the park sits alongside the city’s airport.
It also includes the 17th century Old Rectory Farm, a former dairy which has been restored and now allows visitors to view traditional farming methods.
Birmingham City Council previously said it had ‘usable transit sites and plots for use by the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community’, which it said was ‘in line with Government policy’.
