SWINDON councillor Pete Brown has been invited to attend the House of Commons next Monday to tell MPs about the problems of getting travellers moved on.
Coun Brown (Lab, Dorcan) will address the all-party working party chaired by South Swindon MP Julia Drown.
He will explain the difficulties faced by local authorities in trying to legally move traveller groups from open spaces using section 78 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The act gives magistrates the power to remove any vehicle or property and people living there following a complaint to the local authority. But the act is undermined by the procedural nature of any removal.
On every occasion between 1995 and 1999 travellers moved from one site to another just before the dates were set for a court hearing - sometimes only going across the road.
This has been a particular problem in the Dorcan area.
Since 1998, Coun Brown and Ms Drown have consistently pushed for a revision of the existing powers of the act.
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