Newark Town Council to investigate ‘target hardening’ measures to prevent illegal encampments on public parks and green spaces

A council has agreed to investigate new measures which could prevent illegal encampments on town land.

It follows several recent incidents in which caravans have illegally pitched up on parkland and public green spaces, including Sconce and Devon Park in March, leading to enforcement action.

On many of these occasions, such as the illegal encampment at Collis Close in April, the site had to be closed to the public while a costly large scale clean up took place.

As a result, Newark Town Council is looking at potential ‘target hardening’ options to make some key areas more difficult to access illegally.

Some target hardening already exists at various locations across Newark, but now the council’s finance and general purposes committee have been asked if they wish to invest in further measures.

The main proposal is to create bunds — large mounds of earth — along site borders to act as natural barriers which would be harder to overcome than other forms of target hardening, such as fences or large boulders, which could easily be moved to create access points.

Three priority sites have been identified by the council’s asset maintenance manager for additional protection, including at Collis Close, land adjacent to Barnby Road play area, and land linking Beacon Hill with Clay Lane.

Collis Close and Barnby Road are considered higher risk sites as encroachment has taken place previously or the land is of a size that would support an encampment.

Council documents suggest that the cost of creating bunds at all three proposed sites would be £6,300 or £2,100 per site.

This cost was not budgeted for in the current financial year plan, and will require use of general reserves. However, the council argued that the savings created by avoiding future enforcement action would outweigh the initial investment.

The plans were welcomed by Jack Kellas, who said: “It is our residents, our taxpayers that use these spaces, and unfortunately it is our taxpayers that pay for the legal and enforcement costs too.”

David Moore agreed, saying the cost of creating these new target hardening measures was “very low compared to the cost of clean up.”

Also supportive was Matthew Skinner, saying: “What happened at Collis Close was an embarrassment.

“There were thefts, people in residents’ gardens, all sorts going on, but it’s the clean up that really annoys me.”

Concerns about the aesthetics of any new bunds being “a bit of an eyesore” were raised, but the town clerk confirmed that the bunds would be sown with wildflowers to improve their appearance, with the benefit of increasing biodiversity.

The council agreed to investigate their options further.