The thousands of pounds that have been spent on dealing with and cleaning up after Traveller encampments in Reading have been revealed.
Nearly £20,000 has been spent on clear-up costs alone, which typically involves a site-wide tidy and waste removal.
Over a period of just over a year, the council spent £19,654.55.
This has been revealed in a freedom of information (FOI) request to Reading Borough Council, with the near £20k spent on clear-up ranging from April 24, 2021 to January 5, 2022.
During the incident in April 2021, the council spent £14,681.73 on a clear-up following an unauthorised Traveller encampment at the Cattle Market car park in Great Knollys Street.
The council was asked how much it spent tackling illegal Traveller encampments from 2021/22 to 2024/25, broken down into legal fees, clear-up costs, safeguarding measures and repairs and the total amount.
An information officer was able to provide the amount spent on clear-up costs for 2021/22, which can be seen below:
But figures are not available since January 2022.
An information officer explained: “Since 2022, the Parks and Open Spaces Team has been formally integrated with the Street Cleansing Team to establish a unified operational unit known as Streetscene Services.
“This strategic amalgamation was undertaken to streamline service delivery, enhance operational efficiency, and provide a more cohesive approach to managing public spaces across the borough.
“As a consequence of this restructuring, the financial reporting practices have also evolved.
“Specifically, the costs associated with the clean-up of unauthorised encampments are now absorbed directly within the Streetscene Services budget.
“These expenses are treated as operational overheads and are not itemised or separately collated for reporting purposes.
“This approach reflects the integrated nature of the service and ensures that resources are allocated flexibly to meet the demands of maintaining clean, safe, and accessible public environments.”
The council was not able to provide the amount spent on legal fees, safeguarding and repairs from 2021/22 to 2024/25.
The officer stated: “Only a proportion of illegal Traveller encampments in the borough incur legal fees, as many encampments quickly move on from encamped land either before or soon after the instruction of Legal Service
“Legal fees incurred in dealing with traveller encampments has ranged anywhere between approximately £70 up to approximately £2,500, including bailiff costs.
“It depends on a number of factors, including (i) how much work this Legal Service has to undertake, (ii) the size of the encampment (iii), whether court action is required, and (iv) whether the instruction of bailiffs is required and if so, the number of bailiffs required.”
The council has been investigating providing an approved place for Travellers to pitch up when they are in Reading.
A plan was approved to create seven Traveller pitches in Island Road, Whitley in March 2023, but that was aborted in 2024 due to flooding fears and objections from the Environmental Agency.
While the council was unable to provide the time spent and cost by officers for working on that project, it did spend £936 on the application fee.
That brings the total spend to £20,590.55.
