Travellers camping illegally in a village recreation ground has prompted a parish council to award a £10,000 grant for better security measures to be installed.  

Witchford Parish Council has confirmed it was unanimously agreed to release the funds from its emergency reserves after last month’s incident.  

The grant is being issued to the Witchford Playing Field Association (WPFA) which coordinated much of the effort to move the group on and the clear up afterwards.  

The decision to release the funds was made at the last full parish council meeting last Wednesday (August 7) where councillors also publicly thanked the community for their support with handling the matter. 

Martin Skilbeck, who is chair of WPFA and the Sports and Social Club, said: “The experience has certainly brought the community together.  

“Donations to the GoFundMe page that was set up to help us over the weekend raised just over £6,000 and this will go towards the initial legal costs.  

“This includes the canine unit, bailiff and enforcement procedure we had to put in place that weekend.  

“Thank you to everyone who donated and supported us throughout.  

“We're also grateful to the parish council for issuing the £10,000 towards security measures at the village hall to prevent this from happening again.”  

Travellers in caravans settled at Witchford recreation ground on July 26.Travellers in caravans settled at Witchford recreation ground on July 26. (Image: Gemma Hewett) The travellers arrived on July 26 and stayed for two days.  

Since they left, the community and public services have rallied to clean up the area and get security measures including fencing and bollards installed. 

Mr Skilbeck added Grovemere Property Ltd, based in Ely, generously picked up the bill for a professional company to clean the site afterwards.    

He has also contacted Charlotte Cane, the Liberal Democrat MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, as he wants to discuss the weekend's events with her too.  

Alysoun Hodges, clerk to Witchford Parish Council, explained the £10,000 grant is from the council’s general reserve for any “unanticipated expenditure”.