Travellers smash through gates and set up camp in public park for fifth time this year - despite council promising crackdown

Travellers have smashed through locks to pitch up on a public park for the fifth time this year - despite the council pledging a crackdown on illegal encampments just weeks ago. Almost a dozen caravans and cars were spotted rolling into Beaufort Park in east Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon. Images shared with the Daily Mail show the group's vehicles parked on a former tennis court near the site's front gate, with camping chairs set out across the gravel and dogs running free on the grass. It comes only weeks after members of Birmingham City Council allegedly pledged to implement measures to prevent groups forcing their way onto Beaufort Park. During the summer, a group who invaded the site left it 'completely wrecked' with tyre marks dug in to the turf, trees damaged and litter left strewn across the floor. And residents of Hodge Hill, situated a short walk from the popular Fort Shopping Centre, have now reached the end of their tether. One, called Laila, who lives a stone's throw away, told the Mail: 'It's a right nuisance. They're here nearly every month at the moment - the last time was during the school holidays. 'This is the only green space in the area and they just do not care. Last time they ignored a gravel path nearby to drive across the grass and it was left totally wrecked. Travellers have smashed through locks to pitch up at Beaufort Park in east Birmingham for the fifth time this year Six vans are pictured at the site on Wednesday, though closer to a dozen are now thought to have parked up Locals say Beaufort Park is there 'only green space', but it has now been rendered a no-go zone 'Every time they're bringing animals with them, there's horses sometimes, caravans, teenagers. 'While they're here we all avoid going to the park because they're just so loud and fighting with each other. The dogs aren't on a leash and they're wandering everywhere.' Laila said the last time a group set up camp at Beaufort Park was around two months ago, when Prime Minister Andy Burnham introduced a temporary ban on the sale of barbecues amid a heatwave which saw temperatures soar to 37C. Yet locals spotted the travellers sparking up a blaze of their own at the site - and subsequently called the fire brigade. 'The brigade came, saw the travellers and the fire and basically left them to it,' she explained. 'It was very scary at the time. 'The council really need to sort it out, it's getting silly now. This is the only green space in the area and it's a lovely, lovely park. It's really beautifully designed.' Birmingham has seen a concerning rise in illegal encampments on its parks and green spaces this year. Data released by the local council revealed that some 132 unauthorised camps involving 2,280 caravans were set up during a period covering 2025-26. That represented a 43 per cent and 75 per cent increase respectively from the previous year's 92 encampments and 1,308 caravans. In July alone, reports suggested as many as seven encampments were pitched up across England's second city. Majid Mahmood, a councillor for Bromford and Hodge Hill ward, tells the Mail that during a Budget meeting in February, Beaufort Park was placed in the 'Priority 1' category for a crackdown on illegal encampments. But more than eight months later very little - even nothing - has been done to deter travellers from the site. 'I've actually lost count of how many times we've had travellers pitch up at the park,' he says. Residents told the Daily Mail the issue of travellers at the park has become a 'right nuisance' 'It's frustrating for residents because it's just a cycle where they come in, damage the locks, the turf and on other occasions they've damaged trees planted by a local volunteering group. 'I was promised a few weeks ago that the council would come and install preventative measures but that hasn't happened yet, so we're just back to square one. 'Once the travellers are gone, the taxpayer is left footing the bill to clear up the mess and it's grossly unfair on hard working members of the public, especially during the cost of living crisis. 'We have a lot of people who walk through Beaufort Park and, when there are encampments, these people won't go on their walks. It's just not fair on ordinary people.' It comes as villagers across the country continue to grapple with 'Bank Holiday land grabs', a trend which sees travellers build unauthorised encampments over long weekends when council enforcement teams are at home. They then apply for retrospective planning permission in a bid to make them permanent. In May, a group bulldozed over a wildlife spot in Willows Green, Essex, before retrospectively applying for planning permission three months later. The move left residents furious, with many accusing the group of 'taking advantage of bank holidays' when they are unlikely to face intervention. Elsewhere, in September a group was ordered to leave an illegal site opposite Britain's biggest nuclear weapons factory – Atomic Weapons Establishment's Aldermaston site in Berkshire. They had illegally built 13 static homes there in 2025. The same month, travellers invaded a quaint village in 'military style' as they built an illegal camp in just 48 hours in Hillam, North Yorkshire. The group waited until 4.45pm on a Friday – just as the council offices were closing – before a convoy of lorries and septic tanks rolled into the village, and they worked overnight to complete the job.