Statement on the unlawful Traveller encampment at Newark Sports and Fitness Centre car park

A Newark and Sherwood District Council spokesperson said: “On Saturday afternoon, a group of Travellers arrived and are unlawfully camped at the Newark Sports and Fitness Centre car park, on Bowbridge Road. The height restriction barrier was damaged on Friday in a separate incident.  The leisure centre is a busy site meaning that the car park has a lot of vehicle movement and it is not an appropriate place for caravans to reside.  Therefore we are quickly serving a legal notice to secure the removal of this unlawfully camped group of travellers.  Our officers have attended the site to complete welfare assessments which we are required to do. Safety is our top priority and we are working closely with the Police and Active4Today to ensure that they are moved on as quickly as possible and that the leisure centre and its customers are not impacted by this.” 

A spokesperson from Active4Today said: “Firstly I would like to apologise to any of our customers for any inconvenience that this may cause.  We are incredibly disappointed that a small area of our car park has been taken over by this group of travellers.  I would like to reassure all our customers that the travellers will not be able to enter the leisure centre as we have additional security in place.  We are working closely with the District Council and Police who are doing all they can to move the travellers on as quickly as possible.”