Tory MP Robert Halfon claims Essex town 'under siege' from travellers

Robert Halfon says he receives regular complaints from Harlow residents about travellers. Credit: ITV News

A Conservative MP has claimed that an Essex town is "under siege" from travellers.

Robert Halfon, who represents Harlow, says there are now "over 70 illegal encampments all over the town."

He told ITV News:

Some of the sites being used by the travellers are dead end roads with no facilities. Credit: ITV News

Travellers living on the sites in Harlow told ITV News that they had nowhere else to go and had not been provided with enough permanent legal sites in the area.

One individual, who did not want to be named or pictured, asked: "Does anyone really think we would pitch up at the end of a dead end road with no facilities if we had an alternative?"

Mr Halfon insists Essex Police are not using all their available powers to move the travellers - an allegation denied by senior officers.