Moment furious farmer uses tractor to BLOCK illegal traveller site with huge ‘ring of steel’ dust cloud

THIS is the moment a furious farmer uses a tractor to block an illegal traveller site. The caravans had parked up at Grange Lane Fields in Gosport, Hampshire, as the local council swooped in to prevent more arrivals. This is the moment a furious farmer kicks up a cloud of dust near to a traveller encampment in Hampshire Credit: pictureexclusive.com Council vehicles lined up in Gosport in an attempt to stop more travellers arriving at the site Credit: pictureexclusive.com Dramatic images show five council vehicles lined up on the edge of the field in an attempt to deny entry to more caravans looking to set up camp. Footage also shows a tractor sent to cut the grass near to where the travellers had pitched up. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The tractor can be seen driving close to a caravan and tent as it sent dust swirling into the air and across the encampment. Gosport Reform Party yesterday posted the footage to Facebook announcing the travellers’ arrival. The encampment had pitched up at Grange Lane Fields on Monday afternoon Credit: pictureexclusive.com Cops could be seen approaching the site Credit: pictureexclusive.com In a statement, they said: “Council vehicles are arriving now to prevent further travellers arriving and police are on scene at Grange Lane fields next to the school in Rowner. “Hopefully more grass cutting takes place! “Access to the field and other areas of the Borough are too easy for vehicles to gain entry. “Cllrs Paul Carter and Paul Jacobs have been asking the council as far back as September last year along with the conservatives more recently to put measures in place to protect our open spaces, yet we are still waiting for action.” Most read in The Sun But some locals claimed online that after the council vehicles had departed at 5pm, more travellers arrived at the encampment. Local resident Laura Biddle told MailOnline that unauthorised camps had returned every year. “Let’s hope they don’t light a fire! I live in the flats near there. I have lived here for years now and they come back every summer,” she added. The Sun has contacted Gosport Borough Council for comment. A spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “We are aware of an unauthorised encampment at a site on Grange Lane, Gosport. “Officers have attended the site and we are liaising with the landowners, Gosport Borough Council.” A local councillor in Fareham also took to social media on Monday to share images of the debris left by another encampment in nearby Fareham. He wrote: “So following the eviction of travellers who decided to break our fencing to gain illegal access to our land in Park Lane and damage our property, this is what we are now left with to clear up. “All of which will have to be paid for by the Council.” The images showed piles of rubbish strewn across the field in to an abandoned motorbike and pushchair before it was later cleared. The Sun reported on Tuesday how Sadiq Khan is planning the creation of more than 900 traveller pitches across London over the next decade. It comes after Angela Rayner was accused of making it harder for local councils to block traveller sites in a recent relaxing of planning rules. The Housing Secretary published new regulations on Monday to boost housebuilding. But previous guidance that warned against environmental damage caused by unauthorised traveller sites was removed from the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Tories have blasted the current rules as “unfair” and have pledged to grant police forces with new powers to permanently ban travellers from pitching up on unauthorised sites. Sir James Cleverly, the shadows communities minister, said “illegal” sites were having a “major negative impact” on some areas with residents left feeling “abandoned” Comment now