THE group of Travellers who arrived at Ealing Common yesterday (June 2), have decided to move on.

It's thought that there were two smaller group of Travellers that merged together into one.

The first is suspected to be the group that left Kew Green yesterday and the other coming from Gunnersbury Sports Ground.

Ealing Common councillor, Joanna Dabrowska, has now confirmed that the Travellers departed the area earlier today and the clean-up team from Ealing Council has arrived on the scene.

This was the fourth time in the last two months that a group of Travellers had set up camp on Ealing Common.

Earlier this month a new High Court order made it more difficult for councils to quickly evict Traveller families, a development that London charity London Gypsies and Travellers hailed a 'victory for equality'.

The charity said: "We urge councils to seek alternatives to automatically evicting Traveller families in this way, such as Negotiated Stopping (non-confrontational, negotiated responses to Gypsy and Traveller roadside camps).

"Simply moving families out of the area is not a solution.

advertisement

"The fundamental problem is the lack of authorised sites and legal stopping places for Gypsies and Travellers.

"A London-wide Accommodation Needs Assessment in 2008 identified a need for over 800 pitches (family unit) for Gypsy and Traveller families, but since then less than 10 pitches have been actually delivered across London Boroughs, so there is a huge unmet need.

"Councils also have a duty under the Equality Act to have regard to the needs of the Gypsy and Traveller community."