Residents' fury as travellers smash through locks to set up illegal encampment of more than 20 caravans on popular recreational park

Published: 00:01, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 00:09, 6 August 2026 Residents of a leafy suburb have been left furious after travellers smashed through a gate to pitch up an illegal encampment on their local recreational park. Footage shared with the Daily Mail shows dozens of caravans, trucks and vehicles rolling into Highfield Lane in Quinton, south Birmingham. Horses can be seen stabled in a children's play area ahead of an encampment that stretches across the entirety of the park, usually a hotspot for dog walkers and families.  The group are said to have used bolt cutters and angle grinders to smash through a lock and gain access on Monday afternoon, less than two years after the site was last targeted. On that occasion, the travellers left faeces, litter and nappies strewn across the land's football pitches and play areas.  Frustrated locals are now fearing a repeat. Mike Clarke, who lives a couple of minutes' walk from the site and runs a local community page, fumed: 'It's just a constant nightmare and it's getting worse.  'When I went to visit last night, I saw them entering the park. There's easily more than 20 caravans and they just keep coming.  'It's not the first time. It seems to be every six months. They go to one place, then they go to another and then they come back here again.  Dozens of travellers forced their way into Highfield Lane recreational park in Quinton, south Birmingham, on Monday afternoon Footage shared with the Mail shows horses stabled in a play area near the site's car park Residents say the group used bolt cutters and angle grinders to smash through a gate and gain access 'Last time they left bags of rubbish, toiletries, dirty nappies, they just leave it all. It's like a pig's tip. It's disgusting and it's a really popular spot for us in the summer too.' The site provides the main entrance to Birmingham's Woodgate Valley Country Park, a 450-acre beauty spot home to rivers, meadows and scenic walkways. The encampment has, however, rendered that haven nearly inaccessible.  'The main entrance has just been blocked off,' local councillor Sam Forsyth tells the Mail.  'No one can go to the area because it's just full of about 30 caravans, horses and trucks. You can't get in, you can't go there. It's not safe.  'The area is heavily used by dog walkers, nature lovers and kids. You can spend all day there with your children quite easily.  'The travellers destroy the grassland when they go in but the bigger problem is the waste and mess that they leave because it's human and dog excrement and glass bottles. Sometimes dogs are even left tied up.' The travellers' arrival comes just five days before a dozen tip trucks were set to visit Highfield Lane to pick up household rubbish, garden waste and recycling.  The scheme was set up by Birmingham City Council in a bid to tackle fly-tipping in Britain's second city, which reached a point of crisis last year amid bin shortages.  Residents had been awaiting the visit for weeks, but now fear it could be cancelled due to the illegal encampment.  Ms Forsyth continued: 'People are just so angry because they want access to the park.  The travellers' arrival comes just five days before a dozen tip trucks were set to visit Highfield Lane to pick up household rubbish, garden waste and recycling Locals say the community left human and dog excrement strewn across the ground last time they set up camp at the park 'We've got a huge fly-tipping problem in Quinton and were due to have mobile tip trucks come to the park on Saturday to help with fly-tipping and rubbish. A few weeks ago we managed to remove more than 20 tons of rubbish in 11 trucks. It's looking a lot like the visit on Saturday is going to be cancelled now. 'South Birmingham is becoming a hotspot for travellers. We've had a big increase this year in the number of unauthorised encampments throughout the city. They usually target parks.'  Last month alone, reports suggest that as many as seven illegal encampments were pitched up across Birmingham.  It came after council data revealed officers in the city dealt with 132 unauthorised encampments involving 2,280 caravans in 2025-26. That represented a 43 per cent and 75 per cent increase respectively from the previous year's 92 encampments and 1,308 caravans.  Residents of West Heath, around six miles south-east of Quinton, said they were 'living in fear' in early July after travellers moved into Parkdale Park.  In Stockland Green more than 40 caravans rolled into a beauty spot, leaving clothes and faeces strewn 'everywhere'.  Encampments were also spotted in Yardley, Sheldon, Kings Norton and, more recently, Kings Heath.   It came after Birmingham City Council announced its plan to tackle illegal camps had been scrapped in a decision which sparked backlash.  The programme planned to allow travelling communities to occupy unused council lands, but this was eventually deemed unfeasible due to a lack of 'suitable sites'.  Of the community at Highfield Lane, West Midlands Police said: 'We're aware of travellers on the recreation ground on Highfield Lane, Quinton, and we are liaising with our partners to resolve the situation.'