A legal battle between West Berkshire Council and landowners continues over Travellers occupying a site on Reading Road in Aldermaston, near the AWE facility.
Landowners allowed Travellers to live on the site without council permission, prompting planning enforcement and legal action aimed at removing them.
On 27 January the landowners applied to vary an injunction to allow up to 20 families to stay on the site while a planning decision is pending. The council opposed the request and wanted the matter decided on written evidence, but both sides strongly disputed each other’s accounts.
The judge ruled the issues were too complex for that hearing and has ordered a substantive High Court hearing after March, expected to last three days, during which both parties will be cross‑examined.
The existing injunction remains fully in force until the substantive hearing. Any occupation beyond Plots 7 and 8, closest to the public footpath, is a breach and the council will continue to monitor the site and consider action where breaches occur.
While landowners have a legal right to be present on land they own, the council stresses the unauthorised change of use remains unlawful and is the subject of ongoing enforcement action.
The council has also received further planning applications for the site; these are currently undergoing validation. If validated, members of the public will be able to submit comments under the statutory consultation process.
The council pointed to a recent High Court case in Tewkesbury where a landowner received a six‑month suspended prison sentence, was ordered to remove unauthorised works and to pay £75,000 in council costs after repeated non‑compliance with an injunction, and said it remains committed to pursuing this matter through the appropriate legal channels.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
