“Working with residents from Wigmore and elsewhere in Luton we have successfully pressurised Luton Council and the Police to speed up, evictions” says Lib Dem leader councillor David Franks.

With residents in various parts of Luton suffering weeks of aggravation from illegal traveller camps the patience of Wigmore residents finally ran out when a group evicted from one site in Wigmore simply drove round the corner and moved their caravans onto another park in the same area. Luton Council uses an eviction process which takes over a week but there is a faster way and Liberal Democrat councillors, backed up by a strong contingent of local residents, has embarrassed Labour councillors and Bedfordshire Police into adopting a system which can see travellers moved on in 24 hours or less.

Councillor David Franks says he and his Liberal Democrat colleagues on the Council will do whatever they can to stop the Council and local Police falling back into their bad old ways of taking ages to move on illegally camped travellers.