A LANDOWNER has spoken of his frustration after travellers pitched up at one of his sites in Worcester.

An encampment of around 15 caravans has been set up on a field off Newtown Road, close to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Henry Berkeley, who owns the site backing onto the Perry Manor Care Home, has revealed he has taken legal action in order to evict the group.

However, Mr Berkeley has said he is annoyed at the fact that "everyone seems to be so powerless" to respond to the camp.

He said: "After they arrived on Saturday I immediately contacted the police.

"Because there's a bridleway there we can't block the gate, so we had a log to stop any incursions.

"They must have had a vehicle big enough to push the log out of the way.

"The police's powers are very limited over travellers, so the only way open to us is serving a notice on them, which we did on Monday.

"I've instructed our solicitors to go down the route of evicting them - that's the only way to get rid of them.

"Sadly these things take time, which is frustrating from our perspective."

Earlier this week, your Worcester News reported how readers' opinions on the travellers' arrival was divided.

Some called for authorities to "leave them be," while others asked "who is going to pay for the eviction and clean up".

The camp is not just causing a problem for Mr Berkeley, but also for dog walkers who regularly use the field, he suggested.

"A lot of people walk their dogs on the field but it's not as easy to do it now with the travellers there and the litter they've left.

"Everyone seems to be powerless.

"We also currently use those fields to crop for fodder for our cows and that's going to be rendered useless now because of the detritus that will be left there when they leave."

A planning application for a John Lewis store on the site - known as Worcester Woods - has been put in, but the travellers' camp won't impact this, Mr Berkeley said.

"It won't effect [the John Lewis application] but it's still annoying that they entered the field illegally."

He expects it will take up to two weeks for the travellers to be evicted.