CLEANING up traveller camps costs taxpayer £2m – but is also hitting South East farmers and landowners hard, says CLA (The Country Land and Business Association).

It’s not just the taxpayer paying clean-up bills for travellers’ camps, the CLA has warned – farmers and landowners are being hit hard in the pocket too.

It comes as a BBC investigation has discovered that it has cost the public purse almost £2 million in less than three years in the South. The BBC said the bill accounts for more than 1,400 illegal encampments that have been reported since 2015.

But farmers are also hit hard. CLA South East Regional Director Robin Edwards said: “The cost of dealing with travellers’ camps to taxpayers is considerable, but farmers and landowners are also seriously affected. Dealing with, and clearing up after encampments takes time, money and effort. It can cause huge disruption for farmers, while the clean-up bill often runs to thousands of pounds and it’s the landowner’s responsibility to clean up any fly-tipped waste left behind.”

CLA officials told a government review tackling illegal traveller sites that the law in England and Wales should be changed to make it an offence to set up unauthorised residential developments and encampments in the countryside.

A government consultation has been looking into the effectiveness of current enforcement against illegal sites. CLA South East represents thousands of landowners, farmers and rural businesses in Hampshire.