Travellers began transforming a wildlife haven into a caravan site just hours after The Daily Mail revealed the field was at risk of illegal development. An army of workers descended on the four-acre field near Felsted in Essex within hours of Uttlesford District Council closing for the Bank Holiday weekend on Friday.
Residents' Warnings Ignored
Residents had warned the council of the looming threat to the field, which hosts protected great crested newts and where rare albino fallow deer have been seen. However, the council said it was powerless to act. Yesterday, MailOnline reported how villages across the country were at risk of illegal traveller site developments after a series of unauthorised caravan sites appeared over the Easter weekend. We specifically warned that the field at the historic hamlet of Willows Green, just outside Felsted, was at risk after a local council source revealed intelligence that travellers intended to import thousands of tonnes of hardcore to develop a site over this bank holiday weekend.
Overnight Operation
Last night, under cover of darkness, residents' fears were realised as about 30 vehicles, including cars, vans, and several diggers, were brought onto the field to rip up vegetation in preparation for a hardcore and tarmac base. Using floodlights and generators, several men worked through the night to construct over the pristine countryside. Residents, whose homes overlook one side of the site, saw work begin and awoke to see it continuing. Villagers expressed outrage after Uttlesford District Council failed to secure a preemptive emergency legal injunction.
One man in his 60s said: 'The council was warned this was on the cards but just sat back and waited for it to happen. The field was swamped with vehicles, noise and lights all through the night. No doubt by the time the council reopens on Tuesday there will be a fully-fledged caravan park opposite our homes.'
Council's Inaction Criticised
There had been criticism ahead of the weekend that the district council took no preemptive measures, such as placing an Article Four Directive, which bans any usually permitted development like putting up fences, after hearing of the plan to concrete the field. Others said it could have tried to obtain an emergency injunction banning any development, making it a criminal offence if work started. This was what Basildon Council did in 2006 when it secured a High Court injunction on land at Kennel Lane, near Billericay, before any development started after receiving information that the land had been bought by travellers from Dale Farm. The green belt site was never subject to any unauthorised development after the injunction was secured.
Yet, on Thursday, when MailOnline asked Uttlesford Council if it had any such plans or if enforcement officers would be on standby with an emergency hotline, a spokesperson just urged residents to use the normal online reporting system and said the authority could not act until any development started. An Uttlesford Council spokesperson said on Thursday: 'We are aware of local concerns regarding the land, however, at this stage no breach of planning control has occurred. The site is not subject to an injunction or Article 4 Direction. Planning enforcement is a reactive service - this means the council can only take formal action once a breach has taken place. It cannot act before a breach has occurred. Should unauthorised development occur, we will respond in accordance with our planning enforcement plan.' The council has been contacted for comment again after the work started.
Historic Setting
The Felsted parish is steeped in history and boasts a top private school once attended by Oliver Cromwell's sons. Felsted School was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, the first Baron Rich, who served as Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of King Edward VI from 1547 to 1551. All four of Oliver Cromwell's sons attended, and in recent years, the school has educated several top cricketers, including England internationals Derek Pringle, Nick Knight, John Stephenson, and Jordan Cox, plus England rugby union player Max Malins.
The field being unlawfully developed is in the historic hamlet of Willows Green, one of several green settlements around Felsted that saw development from the Bronze Age. It was sold by a farmer to a real estate company for £125,000 a year ago. Since then, it is believed it has been marketed as about ten smaller plots, with fears some have been purchased by members of the travelling community.
Pattern of Illegal Development
Bank Holiday weekend developments are a modus operandi used by some members of the travelling community at various sites across the country over the past three decades. Military-style operations, like the one seen last night, usually commence once the local district council's offices close on the Friday, before a retrospective planning application for the work already completed is handed to the authority when it reopens. Three councils across the south east were left taking legal action after the Easter bank holiday weekend after different traveller groups set up new unauthorised sites in Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire.
At one location - a four-acre site at Alfold in Surrey - an interim injunction has been issued following an emergency application from Waverley Borough Council to the High Court after 17 pitches for caravans were created without planning permission. It ordered the Travellers not to further develop their camp pending another court hearing. Sevenoaks District Council issued a stop notice to halt work after illegal construction without planning permission of a traveller site began at a green belt site in Church Road, Sundridge over the Easter weekend. About 16 pitches were developed on an area of outstanding natural beauty at Flamstead, Hertfordshire, without permission over the same weekend, causing Dacorum Borough Council to apply for an emergency High Court injunction.
Even if planning applications are refused, it triggers a series of legal appeals during which human rights lawyers argue the council is not meeting traveller site provision in the area amid a claim of a drastic national shortage.
Local Frustration
Richard Freeman, Chair of Felsted Parish Council's Planning Committee, said on Thursday, before the illegal work started: 'Members of the parish council did hear rumours and this was referred to Uttlesford District Council, as it is the council that could take any action, but we were told there is not really any action they can take until something happens so the law is really against us.'
The site is registered as being owned by UK Real Estate and Land 2 Limited, which paid £125,000 cash to the previous owner for the land on April 29 2025, with an overage deed arrangement to pay him more if its value were to increase. The company has been dormant since being set up in May 2023 and was dissolved after a voluntary strike off on April 28 this year. A planning application was made by one of the new smaller plot owners for a three-bedroom residential log cabin in December, but it was rejected by the council as being an inappropriate development in the countryside and due to the likely presence of the newts.
Several neighbouring households objected to the planning application amid concerns over how the land was being sold as smaller plots. One wrote: 'The agricultural field in question was sold off in a number of small parcels very recently... on a speculative basis. We are very concerned that if this application is approved, then the other owners of the various land parcels will want to follow suit.' Another said: 'There is a regular free transit of a herd of deer including rare albino deer. The question of sale and division of the field into lots were advertised from a London Agency and did not mention that this land had any permission to convert to residential from agricultural. I am suspicious of (the) intention with this proposal.'
