'Health risk' 'Enforcement plan' to tackle Downs van dewellers

As a result, the encampment which numbers between 100 and 150 vehicles - has been classified a “high impact’ site.

- Angus MCINTYRE

Cllr Barry Parsons

However, there remains significant doubt about what exactly the council will do, or when. The council’s statement merely stated: “We are currently working on an enforcement plan to begin to move the group of lived in vehicles from the Downs’

It added: “Our neighbourhood enforcement team visited the area, and found several sites being used as organised toilet facilities, filled with human waste.

“Quite simply, this is not acceptable and presents a significant public health issue.”

Ben Richie, a spokesperson for the Bristol Housing Action Movement, said the council's hands were likely to be tied until the outcome of an injunction hearing on December 5, which may or may not grant it powers to demand people leave the area. Mr Richie also slammed the council for bowing to the demands of groups such as Protect The Downs, who have threatened the council with legal action over its handling of the issue, without properly engaging with the people living in vehicles.

“The reason they’re being vague is because of the court case, that’s when they're going to try and get an overall injunction (against the vehicle dwellers),” he said. “We know the council are under an awful lot of pressure from the Downs Committee to move people off the site (but) we don’t even know whether they've really approached the people on the site and said, ‘Have you got anywhere else to go?’”