Injunction order secured by Newark and Sherwood District Council to stop building works at unlawful Traveller site development in Weston

An injunction order has been secured to prevent further building works or additional caravans on an unlawful Traveller site.

Today (March 25) Newark and Sherwood District Council secured an injunction order for the unauthorised works on land in Weston.

A 40-pitch caravan site had sprung up over the bank holiday weekend — complete with tarmacadam roads and fences — without planning permission.

Nearby residents described bulldozers and excavators being used on the agricultural field, and also report having faced abuse from those currently residing on the site.

The injunction order prevents any further building works or additional caravans or mobile homes being brought onto the site.

If a caravan or mobile home is removed from the land it may not be replaced with another, or returned to the land.

Failure to comply with the order could result in imprisonment, a fine, or seizure of assets.

A further court hearing is scheduled for 10am on May 7, 2025, which will allow any defendants to address the court and revisit whether the injunction should continue, the council has stated.

Unless it is revoked by the court, the injuction will remain in place until 4pm on July 25.

Presenting evidence for the injuction to the courts, the council described the building works as a “significant breach of planning control” and said the unauthorised activity had continued at the site during this week, despite the council’s investigation, and officers had faced “intimidation and threats”.

It’s application document for the order further stated: “The council fears that, absent and injunction, the unauthorised site will deepen, spread, and more and more caravans will be brought on.”

It also included information about what was seen by officers who visited the site on Tuesday, April 22 — detailing 40 plots marked with fences, with blue cables sticking out ready for power boxes to be fitted, two ‘mobile’ construction site toilet units plumbed into the ground, and two entrances created to the site.

The council yesterday (April 24) served an enforcement notice on the site, ordering it to cease residential occupancy by May 30, and be returned to its original state within the following 90 days.

This notice is also able to be paused by an appeal or submission of a valid planning application.

An invalid planning application with missing information had been submitted on Thursday, April 17, the day before the council became aware of the unauthorised works.