NEW bollards installed on playing fields at Withymoor to prevent travellers moving onto the site have already proven their worth just weeks after being installed.

The Friends of Amblecote had the bollards put in around the edge of the fields opposite Sainsbury’s supermarket to help keep them free of illegal traveller camps after residents in the area were plagued by a series of incursions last September.

The group was granted £13,500 worth of funding from the Amblecote Community Forum in January to help pay for the bollards which were installed last month.

Councillor Paul Bradley said: "We have come a long way since that night in January when our residents came out in force at our local forum enabling us to get vital funding for the bollards.”

He told the News it was hoped the measures would be “enough to deter unwanted incursions” and this week they were put to the test when travellers descended on Withymoor on Tuesday.

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Cllr Bradley, (pictured above centre with cllrs Julie Baines, left, and Simon Tyler, right), said: "Some of the caravans went onto the ground between the park and Sainsbury's, the first incursion site from last year. I went down and spoke with police officers who said they were planning to move on because the land was too small.”

It is believed the travellers tried unsuccessfully to move some of the new bollards and cllr Bradley added: “It was a win for the bollards on this occasion.”

Councillor Julie Baines said of the new bollards: "We would like to thank council officers for their support and timely delivery of this scheme.”

Fellow ward councillor Simon Tyler added: “No solution is infallible. The bollards are more prevention than a cure to traveller incursions but as councillors we will continue to lobby for more appropriate measures at local and national level.”

The councillors say they have called for a similar scheme to be prepared for the land off Turners Lane, by One Stop, where travellers set up camp last year and they promised to put their thinking caps on once again to try and find funding. It is estimated they would need about £6,000.