Merseyside Police escort caravan onto illegal traveller site built on Irby's protected green belt land

From the Newshound archive · first published 28 September 2026 · last updated 29 September 2026.

Residents on Townshend Avenue, Irby, have reacted with fury after video emerged of Merseyside Police officers guiding a large static caravan into an illegal traveller site on protected green belt land. Three traveller families bought the 0.9-acre plot in August and moved in over the Bank Holiday weekend, using diggers and a forklift to tear up the field and erecting a 10ft wooden fence without planning permission. Wirral Council confirmed no planning application had been submitted, and a temporary stop notice covering the engineering works is now in force.

One homeowner said the officers looked like 'bodyguards' and that the travellers were being treated like 'customers'.

Merseyside Police say they are 'duty-bound to escort vehicles that could pose a safety risk to other motorists due to their size or weight'.

Aerial footage reveals that the formerly pristine protected field now holds three caravans, AstroTurf, three cars and a van.