ENVIRONMENT Minister Robert Jones has denied Bolton Council claims that new legislation makes it more difficult to remove illegal gypsy camps.

In November last year Bolton Council officials met angry Little Lever residents who were complaining about repeated gypsy invasions in the area.

Officials told them of the difficulties they face in removing illegal camps from their land and how three months after gypsies are evicted from a site they can return.

In a written reply to Bolton North East MP Peter Thurnham, Mr Jones said that new powers given to local authorities in the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act had improved matters. He said that previously gypsies could return to a site they had been evicted from within hours of being moved on.

"There have always been, and always will be, travellers who use every ruse to prolong their stay on unauthorised sites for as long as possible before being evicted, and for those who will make it their business to know the law and to flout it whenever possible," said Mr Jones. "We have no plans to amend the legislation, which has been in place for little more than a year, nor to rescind the advice in the department's circular about the need to take into account health and welfare responsibilities."

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