Public meeting hears of tension over travellers in park

"My blood is boiling."

In the leafy north Leeds suburb of Roundhay, tensions are rising.

On a warm summer evening, residents here have packed out The Mansion for a public meeting with politicians, police and senior council staff over the long-running issue of unauthorised Gypsy and traveller encampments in the area.

Given that locals claim the problem has blighted their lives for the best part of a decade, they have plenty to say.

Unsurprisingly, the meeting overruns as a pile-on of complaints mount, triggered by issues ranging from human excrement in the park to criminal damage, theft and even reports of a horse "charging" through one of the city's busiest and most cherished green spaces.

"Stop pussyfooting around and sort this out," the assembled spokespeople for Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Police are told in no uncertain terms by one resident.

"How many salaries around this room are paid, but you are not being effective," she adds to nods of agreement from the 40-odd locals here.

Numbers have been capped due to the venue's capacity, but demand to be here was high.

A waiting list was in operation - illustrating the strength of feeling shared by many.

Gareth Self, the council's Gypsy and traveller service manager, tells many of them what they already know - the number of unauthorised encampments officially recorded at Roundhay Park has increased almost every year since 2022.

Yet across the city numbers are falling, down from 94 in 2023/24 to 49 in 2025/26, and 38 for 2026/27 to date.

Despite this, James Slater, a traveller liason officer working for West Yorkshire Police, insists the issue is not unique to this part of Leeds.

"We are seeing repeat locations at Temple Newsam, Roundhay and Scott Hall Fields," he says.

"The big spaces, groups are coming back to them."

There are currently 69 caravans in Leeds across five locations, according to Slater, who says we are in the "peak" period for the summer, which is the busiest time for temporary camps.

A group of travellers moved on from Roundhay Park last week have since arrived in the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey, another public park.

"We are just moving groups," admits Slater, adding: "We are trying to find a long-term solution."

While the council manages two permanent Gypsy and traveller sites in Leeds, it does not have a temporary site for those living a traditional nomadic life.

Leeds GATE, a charity which supports Gypsy and traveller communities, did not send a representative to the meeting, but they have previously called for more sites to be allocated to caravans.

"I think people feel like they are stuck between a rock and a hard place because they do not have anywhere to go," says the organisation's CEO, Ellie Rogers.

Rogers says she spoke to a young mother staying on an encampment in Roundhay Park who "didn't want to be there".

"She wanted a home but there wasn't anything available to her.

"There was a long waiting list and there aren't plots available. There's a housing crisis for everybody but for Gypsies and travellers it's much more stark."

Self says his council colleagues are "looking at" provision, but warns more sites would not stop traveller encampments altogether.

Some groups are more co-operative than others, he tells the room, with the vast majority evicted by court orders.

Locals have criticised the council's latest proposed measures to prevent traveller encampments at Roundhay Park - which include installing more entrance boulders and 909 linear metres of "earth mounding", funded by parking charges - as a "sticking plaster".

"What have you been doing for 10 years, why isn't there a place for them to go to?" one man asks.

"Sort the roof out, stop plugging the holes all the time."

"Until something happens at the top, we are not going to solve this problem by putting plants in and boulders," says another.

Criticism of the authorities' respective responses, or lack of, continues, with one resident, Neil Sevitt, telling the meeting: "We are frightened to go out of our homes."

Council tax premiums in this postcode are among the highest in Leeds, yet those in attendance clearly feel short-changed by the deal they are getting.

After hearing several stories of police inaction over crimes reported, Anil Mander, a chief inspector at West Yorkshire Police, is forced to deny allegations of "two-tier policing".

"We are not treating criminality any different because of who it's committed by," he says.

Fabian Hamilton, Labour MP for Leeds North East, is also in attendance, having previously met residents to discuss the problem.

"I don't have an insight into what the police think, but I would hope, for all our sakes, that the police aren't frightened of law-breakers," he tells the room.

"If they are, we are all doomed.

"Every time I meet with the police they assure me that everything that could be done is being done, and clearly that's not the case."

Asked what he can do to improve the situation, Hamilton replies: "We need to ensure that the police receive the resources that they need in order to be able to protect us. Clearly that's not happening right now."

After the meeting draws to a close with seemingly no genuine solution in sight, Sevitt says locals "feel very frustrated that it takes so long to get anything to change" on the issue.

Hamilton says it is up to those with power to "listen", adding: "These meetings should be a spur to change. They should drive the authorities, councillors, myself and everybody listening to do more and work harder."

In the meantime, a situation which no one appears to be happy with rumbles on.

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