A KIRKLEES councillor who proposed that laws should be tightened-up on illegal trespass, has welcomed a court ruling on travellers.
Mirfield Tory Clr Martyn Bolt said that the Law Lords' decision to dismiss an appeal by a traveller family against Leeds City Council was a victory for common sense.
The case centred on an eviction by Leeds Council, of a group of travellers from a recreation ground.
The travellers had argued that their human rights were infringed by their eviction.
But the Law Lords dismissed their appeal saying they could never have considered a council-owned playing field a home.
Clr Bolt said: "Had their view been upheld then it would have been a clear signal for anarchy.
"No land would have been safe from trespassers. What would have been to stop me from setting up home in someone's back garden?"
Clr Bolt and his Conservative colleagues had called at a council meeting for the Government to make trespass a criminal offence, as it is in the republic of Ireland.
The motion was defeated by a coalition of Labour and Lib Dem councillors.
In the past, trespass by travellers has rendered football fields and recreation grounds unusable by community groups.
The damage is done both by caravans and lorries brought on to the ground and by the mounds of waste left behind.
Clr Bolt added: "We have seen in Leeds that providing a publicly funded site does not stop trespass.
"It is time for the Government to honour its election pledge and be tough on this anti-social behaviour."
Police statistics show people near travellers' campsites are at risk of criminal activity from the travellers.
