31/10/2016 Inside Out East

What is the solution for illegal travellers' camps?

what's being done about travellers' sites in Bedfordshire?

The way is not to turn up and demand that council tax payers find homes

for people on the basis of them saying, "I'd like to stay hdre.

We reveal the problem of wolen at risk of being caught up

They will be given a wad of cash and some drugs and they will be told

that they have to establish a new drugs market,

sell those drugs, maximise the profit for the gang.

And it's Halloween, so I'm on the trail

Revealing the stories that matter closer to home,

Now, every county in our region has stories about travellers

Here in Central Bedfordshird, the number of illegal encampments

has doubled in the past year, so what can be done about that?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith from BBC Three Counties Radho,

the local radio station here in Dunstable,

Irish travellers are camping illegally across Bedfordshire.

And councils are spending thousands of pounds a month moving thdm on

and then clearing up after them ? only for them to come back.

I am Jonathan Vernon-Smith and I have been following this story

and want to find out if there is a solution.

This is the Grove Park area of Dunstable.

Just by Central Bedfordshire College.

The travellers have pitched up here several times this year.

They keep coming back, they get moved on again,

The council recently this ydar put in what's unofficially known

There were 12 illegal camps four years ago and 48 this xear

The travellers just break down the barriers and camp anywax.

We have been here, we have seen it so many times.

They will be back again and when they go this time,

they will leave an awful lot of rubbish.

The council is taking a tough approach.

Here we have between 30 to 40 caravans turning up

We are seeking injunctions on specific areas of land

I certainly don't want thesd concrete blocks all over thd place.

Your plan is to drive these travellers away?

We don't drive people away, but we cannot encourage

In the meantime, the problem doesn't go away.

It is costing taxpayers mondy, it is not good for residents,

while the travellers say they have nowhere to go.

But one man thinks he has the answer.

Martin Berry bought land ten years ago,

where he was allowed to build a permanent

and they gave me planning pdrmission for what you see now.

He has been told by the council that he has one of the cleanest

sites in Bedfordshire, with toilets and skips,

and everyone who lives here takes care of it.

Now he wants to offer the travellers who are down the road a homd,

but to do that, he will havd to build here on his field.

What we need to do is extend and have 30 in total.

It won't cost the taxpayer a penny, I should say.

But at the moment, it's costing the taxpayer

a lot of money, because thex are having to clean up after thd

If they had it here, they wouldn't have to spend

all that money and waste it, when I can take care of it.

I'll manage the site, I'll dispose of all the

I mean, it's a bit of a no-brainer, really.

The field and next to Green Vale is classed as green belt land

and comes with a restriction to build on it.

Part of the problem for travellers in this part

Almost five years to the dax, Basildon council ordered

who had been living on unauthorised land at Dale Farm.

Here, the travellers lost their bid for planning permission,

because it was also classed as green belt.

Travellers like Maryanne fotght all the way to Number Ten

Please, I'm begging you so hard I'll kiss your feet,

to leave us stay where we are, to stop the eviction until they find

The bailiffs were under orddrs to flatten the site, and thdy did.

All we want is a piece of ground to live in our caravans.

That will save the council millions of pounds.

They fled Dale Farm and movdd on to nearby counties

like Bedfordshire, and the problem is still costing councils ddarly.

I tracked Maryanne down at Martin's site.

she and her family got to rent a pitch here.

I left Dale Farm two days before the eviction.

Because I knew what was going to happen.

I couldn't stand looking at my children, my grandchildren, leaving.

And only for Martin, I'd still probably be at thd side

You can see how peaceful and quiet it is.

I know a lot of travelling then who say Tim Martin, your place hs really

run well, and yes, I think this would be a good thing if we open up

a place and tried to get it managed, not just open up yours and dverybody

pull in and ruin the place. -- open up yards. So I've come to the

council to see whether Marthn's IDF can work. You have got a gux in the

form of Martin Berry who owns this travelling side. He says, ldt me

expand my site and I will ldt a whole load of those travelldrs come

on the site. On the face of it, surely would accept it seems like a

bit of a gift to the council? It doesn't seem like common sense. But

the council is bound by planning rules and planning regulations.

The problem is down to the fact that the field

I have solicited -- suggestdd a solution, if Mr Barry finds some are

appropriate, puts in a planning application, the council considers

it, and if the council gives permission for a site, he goes out

and Bob's your uncle. We do not make red tape up, we are bound bx red

tape. If you ask the travellers to go on the waiting list or to buy

another bidder Brownfield l`nd, how long will this take before they have

some prominent to stay? A considerable amount of time. The way

is not to turn up and demand that council tax payers find homds for

people on the basis of them saying, I would like to stay here.

Martin hasn't got a brownfidld site, only a green one, and moving

and getting planning could take months, if not years.

He now knows that the counchl isn't going to budge on putting c`ravans

They came out here and I kind of got along with them.

They were supportive about the permanent side of it,

So, more pitches on Green V`le could be one solution.

For now, they will support le for making more pitches

This will take time, and in the meantime,

with no real long-term solution in sight, councils like the ones

in Bedfordshire will keep on spending money on defencds.

But Martin believes the way forward is to plan ahead to get mord

What Martin is trying to do is great, and I thank him

They don't want to be on the side of these roads.

A lot of people want to get off the road and all I can say is, to get

the kids in school and let them be permanent, it has to be a good

thing. If there is something you think we

should be looking into on the programme, you can get in touch with

me in the usual way. This is Inside Out for the Dast of

England on BBC One. Later, H discover how the buyer of this tiny

seed hopes to turn it into the biggest pumpkin ever grown hn

Britain. This really shocked me, 20 women

every month in Northamptonshire are believed to be at risk of bding

groomed into joining a gang. Now the police are working with forler gang

members to address the problem. Here is Joe Taylor.

This is the Hemmingwell Est`te in Wellingborough, where last year

It was the second violent incident involving teenagers

There's a growing concern whth gangs and violence in this area,

but now there's a new phenolenon that's worrying the police,

Here in Northamptonshire, police believe 20 women a month

Dr Simon Harding is a gang dxpert and knows how these gangs operate.

They will be given a wad of cash, maybe ?500, and some drugs,

and they will be told they will have to sell those drugs, multiply it,

and maximise the profit for the gang.

If they don't, if the deal goes wrong, if they fall into debt,

or God forbid they lose the money, then they will be subjected

to violence and they will be very vulnerable.

Cherie Johnson was born into crime and ran a gang in London.

She has allowed me to meet her and get a glimpse of this world

She herself used girls to traffic drugs for her.

So, you used to do this to young women ?

You give them whatever you need to, whatever drug it was you wotld give,

you would buy their tickets, follow them to the station,

if not you follow them to the station or you put them

in a cab, because you want to make sure they are safe.

-- you send someone to follow them to the station.

For Cherie, it was all about the lifestyle drugs could buy.

When you are in that world, it's all about displaying your wdalth.

It is all about showing who makes the most money ? who is on top,

who has the most disposable income and attributes without being robbed.

For Cherie, she turned her back on her past

When I was giving birth, I felt emotions I was not expecting to

feel. And I certainly didn't

want to repeat history, so I literally made a decishon just

looking at her in the first 30 minutes ? am I going to leave

here the same person, or am I going to leave a completely

different person? I left a completely different

person. She is now trying to make stre

other young women don't She's already helped girls

leave gangs in London. What I've noticed is there's always

some dysfunction in the homd, why these people are

drawn to this lifestyle. For example, if Mum's not

there, she might spend You have a local gang always

identifying those girls that are always in the park,

see what they're up to, and then they build

a conversation from there. For that reason she says shd needs

to act a surrogate parent Today, she is sorting out

the birthday arrangements with a colleague for a girl who has

left a gang. I've been calling you. Happx

birthday! You make me laugh. Now she's bringing her experience

and skills from London here. The most common way of gangs

operating is through turfs. So for example, a place

like Wellingborough, you could have several gangs

in this little community. Interestingly enough,

is if you were to ask a young person to highlight where some of the gangs

are, you'd probably end up with ten different circles,

because to us, the untrained eye, They know where the gangs operate,

they know the turf Cherie's first step

is to introduce herself I'm supporting women and yotng

people into education, employment. At first she is treated

with suspicion. Now you want to ask me? It hs my

business, it is the business I'm bringing here for the young women,

education, employment. Why don't you meet me halfway? Why are we shouting

across the square? By talking to the boys,

she's hoping she'll reach Do I need to go somewhere else? Do I

need to bring my service... This is where everyone comes. Nothing goes

off here. They will come back? Yes. I appreciate you, though. Thank you

very much. I've explained to him

I'm targeting the girls, and he has pointed out

where the hostels are and the girls and it works out that you h`ve got

to be trained to do it, Well, I was watching

and thinking, look at her go! And it's not just the street

work where she is trying Wellingborough Police have

just hired her and today she is helping an officer,

in an unusual way. The issue is that gang

culture is a subculture, A concerned mum's rang in and she's

overheard her daughter talkhng to somebody on the telephond,

she doesn't know what it me`ns and I'll be honest,

I don't understand it either. She can decipher the language

of this underground world Bring the food to the bando and make

sure you bring them raks with you. Basically, whoever her daughter

is talking to is asking her to bring drugs and also bring

the money as well. So, food is the drugs

and bando is the house, And make sure your bring

the raks, that's the money. That's probably quite

a large quantity of money, Police now know there

five gangs in Rushden and Wellingborough running drugs,

and are aware of up to 100 women I want to find out how people living

on the Wellingborough estatds How do we take a generation out

of crime if we don't deal with their parents who are shoving

them out first thing in the morning and don't want them back til

nine or ten o'clock at night and don't worry if they are not

back until midnight? And concerned parents are asking

what can be done I was born and brought up

on the Queensway estate itsdlf and there's been a big change

recently with gang culture on the estate, where there `re kids

as young as five who can actually point out and identify

who the gang leaders are and what weapons

they are carrying. It is also needed in both estates

is somewhere for them to fedl welcome and feel like

they are needed as such. For the police, the issue

is firmly on their radar. Cherie has really helped us

understand the potential roles that females can play

and what we are trying to do now is we accept that we need

to understand more. It is new to us here but ag`in

I know other forces are that are asking themselves the s`me

questions we are just trying to be proactive around

prevention with females. And with people like Cherie,

things are moving forward. So what is being done about this

gang problem and Well, what we know is that this

is an issue for this area and it is now on the police radar,

so that is very good. But more needs to be done,

we need schools, we need social workers, we need the council,

we need education, we need everybody working together

to solve the problem. To identify who is at most risk

and who is most vulnerable `nd then to help them exit the gang

and to cut down on the crimhnal And although Cherie has onlx been

in Northamptonshire for a fdw weeks, she is confident that it is only

a matter of time before I would like to think that there is

not a catamite of people I transport, I just want everxbody to

know our doors are here to support them when they make that tr`nsition.

I'm a bit behind in getting this pumpkin carved, but this is an

average size, imagine 100 thmes heavier. Hard to imagine? Wdll, it

is even harder to grow and H have been following the people hoping to

grow the biggest pumpkin in the world.

Our story began earlier this year right in the middle of spring.

It's owned by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The stunning gardens contain many exotic flowers and plants.

But there's going to be somdthing growing here shortly that whll be

What they're aiming to grow here is the largest pumpkin

Now, to grow the biggest pulpkin, you need a rather special khnd

of seed, and for that we have to go to Ipswich and the Suffolk home

of seed merchants Thompson and Morgan.

The company has done something quite remarkable.

At a special auction, it paid more than ?1,000

Yes, you did hear that right, just one single seed and thd cost

The seed came from a record-breaking pumpkin

It holds the world record for weight, according

to the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth Organisation.

Now, you look like a sensible kind of bloke.

Why spend over ?1,200 on a single seed?

This is buying the best pumpkin seed in the world.

It is like buying the best racehorse for stud.

We'll just plant it and hope it grows.

The competition to grow the biggest pumpkin will be fierce.

If someone breaks the world record at the UK Championships,

The person chosen to grow otr giant specimen is Matthew Oliver,

How do you feel about being the person who will grow th`t,

hopefully into the world's largest pumpkin?

But I think weve got the right conditions to give it our bdst shot.

First of all, we need to st`rt off in a nice, small pot.

Potting compost, add a bit of perlite mixed in to improve

Before we plant the seed, there's a couple of things

One of them is, a good tip hs to get a nail file to the edge of the seed,

just to break the seed coat so it can soak up water quicker

And when we do is sow it, we've got to remember,

pointed down, just enough to bury it.

As it breaks out, the seed growth can break out easier

and the root will be going in the right direction.

Once that has germinated and got its first sort of true,

real leaf on it, that's the stage we'll plant it

If anyone can do it, you're the man to do it.

We asked Matthew to keep a diary of his progress.

A long way off planting out, by the looks of it.

The pumpkin has been in the ground for 48 hours now, and not a great

start for the world's most expensive pumpkin seed!

I've come down this morning and as you can see, we've h`d some

That's bad news and I'm not too happy.

As you can see, we've got this leaf coming up under the main stdm,

stopping the main stem from laying flat in the grotnd.

Unfortunately, that means this leaf has got to come off.

Just to give you an idea of how rapidly these plants grow,

this is equal to about two months' worth of growth.

And things are a bit slow because of the weather.

Today is the 18th of July, and as you can see,

we've had some good growth on this plant.

We have to muck pumpkins pollinated. This one is 11 days old. -- two

pumpkins. Keep it covered with a piecd

of old material, to keep the skin nice and soft,

to allow it to grow It has been four weeks

since the last video diary and as you can see,

the pumpkin has been growing It has been averaging about 200lb

a week, and is currently wehghing approximately 650lb,

so I'm really happy with thhs. There's quite a lot of photos out

there of me with pumpkins now! With the long summer over

and the giant pumpkin competition just a day away, Mathew is faced

with another challenge - to transport his prize spechmen

to a location over 100 miles away. Paul Hansord from Thompson

and Morgan has come along to help. You can't actually get anything

underneath the pumpkin. You can only get a rope arotnd

the base of it, so when it's actually lifted, there's nothing

underneath the pumpkin. So, if you do it

wrong, it falls out This whole summer's work

is coming to an end here. Have you got hold of that? H think

it is going to swing this w`y. It could be hanging from a rope up

in the air until we can get it It should be fine,

but it is a bit nerve wrackhng. It's exciting, really,

because Matthew has put a tremendous amount of hours into it,

to get a pumpkin this big. It's pure dedication, the m`n hours,

all the worries he's had, How do you believe a little

pumpkin seed can turn It's the grand final of

the UK Pumpkin Championships Giant pumpkins have arrived

from around the country. It looks like Matthew has

some stiff competition. These are some the biggest H have

ever seen but some of these ones were grown indoors inside a

greenhouse but our one, I think we are pretty comfortable... That is

another whopper! Look at thd size of that!

I'm happy with what we've got and I think it's going to go heavy.

If I was a betting man, I think it's going to go he`vier.

Matt has worked incredibly hard to get it to this size.

Absolutely, the man hours he has put in, you know,

it needs a lot of dedication to produce a big pumpkin like that.

It is very nerve wracking bdcause anything did happen to it. Don't let

it slip out of those straps This could be a new record. If it comes

to estimate, it'll be smashdd. Ride it won't be the biggest pumpkin in

the world, but it could set the record for the biggest ever grown

outdoors in the UK. 1333...

That is a new record! Amazing. Fantastic. That is a new record As

far as I'm aware, that is a new record so that is a good fedling.

Congratulation. Now I know what these Olympians feel like!

That was fantastic to be thdre, Matt has not ruled out trying to grow

another whopper next year. That s it from Dunstable and that's it for

now. I'm back with a new series of Inside Out next January. But if you

want to get in touch about `ny stories in the meantime, I `m on

Twitter, or you can e-mail. And look out front Inside Ott

special investigation on Frhday the 11th of November on BBC One. We will

keep you posted on that and more stories on our Facebook pagd. I will

see you in the New Year for a new series of Inside Out but until then,

goodbye. Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

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