Travellers leave Amesbury field covered in 'hundreds of dirty nappies'

Jordan McGill, 29, said she was "gutted" to see the field where she normally takes her son to play football covered in litter.

She says travellers who occupied the site on Double Hedges, Amesbury, were responsible for the mess, which took her and other residents three days to clear.

The encampment, set up on land belonging to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), was removed on April 12 after police attended the site. 

The travellers are also thought to be responsible for an old sofa being dumped on Solstice Park which was subsequently set alight.

'It was awful'

Jordan, a mum-of-one, visited the field near her home on the Plumer Estate on Friday, April 9, two days after the travellers arrived. 

"They had all the washing lines out across the trees, they were quad-biking, just being pretty reckless and we walked away from it because for my little boy's safety we couldn't stay on the field," she said.

On Monday, April 12, the encampment packed up and left, leaving behind all sorts of rubbish and damaged trees, according to Jordan.

"There were hundreds of trees destroyed, cut down or knocked down, burnt grass. They destroyed a memorial statue and took a brass sign from a bench.

"We found human faeces, dog poo, hundreds of dirty nappies, toys, bags of weed... it was awful, gruesome really.

"I was completely gutted that somebody, regardless of their own beliefs, could do something like that and cause so much damage for no reason."

As the rubbish was on private land, Jordan and her partner took it upon themselves to clean up, helped by some neighbours.

They then gathered all the bags in one place for the MoD's contractors to collect.

Jordan added: "A lot of people have been saying 'well done, but this isn't your responsibility'.

"If it isn't our responsibility, who is it left to?

"They've all gone now so what else can you do?"

Fly-tipping

Earlier last week, an old sofa was dumped on Solstice Park.

Residents believe travellers were behind the incident, as they were trying to dispose of the item before they left.

A picture shared on Facebook also shows the sofa being set alight, though the fire service was unable to confirm the incident.

Wiltshire Council said it was investigating and asked residents to report similar incidents via the MyWilts app.

Travellers left 'peacefully'

A spokesperson from the MoD said the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) supported by the local police and an MoD police officer attended the site when alerted by residents.

The travellers left "peacefully without the need to serve an eviction notice, and were already in the process of moving off the area when the police and DIO arrived".

All bags of rubbish have now been removed.

Get more Salisbury news and nominate your local heroes for the South Wiltshire Hero Awards.

You can also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date.

If you want online news with fewer ads, unlimited access and reader rewards - plus a chance to support our local journalism - find out more about registering or a digital subscription.

Email newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk with your comments, pictures, letters and news stories.