Report an unauthorised encampment
An unauthorised encampment is when people live in vehicles, tents, or similar structures on any land without permission.
How to report an encampment
You can contact us by phone or email to let us know of an encampment.
It would help us if you can provide the location.
If you need to report a crime related to an encampment, you should contact the Police.
Injunction sites
The Court has granted injunctions to stop people from setting up camps in open spaces across the Borough. This helps us to remove unauthorised encampments on these sites more quickly.
Sites with current injunctions
- Aldridge Airfield/Aldridge Airport open space
- Aldridge Community Centre and land on Middlemore Lane, Aldridge
- Arboretum and Extension
- Barr Beacon open space
- Bloxwich Active Living Centre
- Broadway West playing fields
- Brownhills Common
- Canalside Close
- The Croft, Aldridge
- Delves Green Common
- Dolphin Close
- Dolphin House car park
- Floyds Lane open space
- Fullbrook playing fields
- George Rose Park
- Hawthorne Road open space
- Holland Park
- King George V playing fields
- Laburnum Road playing fields
- Laurel Avenue open space
- The Lea, Goscote
- Leamore Park open space
- Mallory Crescent park area
- Oak Park Active Living Centre and open space near to the leisure centre
- Oak Park Leisure Centre/ KFC car park area
- Radleys Park playing fields
- Rushall Park playing fields
- Swannies Field, Goscote
- Victoria Park
- Wakes car park, Willenhall
- Wolverhampton Street car park
What happens next
We need to balance the rights of people living in the encampment with the rights of landowners and the local community. We will use the best powers we have for the site. Some encampments may take longer to remove than others, for example, if there is ill health on site or another serious issue.
Encampments on injunction sites
We will visit the site to serve the injunction paperwork to the people there. This tells them that they must leave the site right away. These sites are prioritised, and we’ll ask for support from other agencies, including bailiffs and the Police, to make people leave if they don't go on their own.
Encampments on council land
When an encampment arrives, we’ll visit the site. We will assess any risks to people on site and in the local area. We'll also log the vehicles on site and carry out welfare checks.
If we don’t find any issues, we’ll serve a notice to leave within a set time, usually 24 hours.
If the site is not vacated, we’ll apply for a court eviction order. An eviction can take up to a week if it goes to court, although this can vary. After the encampment leaves, we may need to clean up and secure the site.
High risk encampments
If we think an encampment is high risk or there are a lot of complaints about anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder, we’ll work with the Police to decide how best to deal with it.
Encampments on private land
We will contact the landowner to check if the encampment has permission and if they need any support or advice to regain their land. If we can't contact the landowner, or the land does not belong to anyone, we'll decide if it is right for us to evict the encampment.
Contact information
Before contacting us, please check to see if we can answer your question from our online information.
Phone:
Write to us:
Community Protection, Walsall Council, Civic Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall WS1 1TP
Connect to a BSL interpreter
Available on demand Monday to Friday between 9am and 4:30pm
