Travellers have moved into a car park causing neighbours concern about disturbance and their safety.
The council has confirmed that this is the biggest illegal camp to be set up in Harrow for the past five years.
Families arrived in about 15 caravans last night (Thursday November 28) and have set up home in the car park of the privately-owned Kodak Sports Ground in Harrow View, Wealdstone.
Lydia Heslin, who lives in a neighbouring road, said: “They came here in the night.
“The first we knew about it was this horrific sound, which was the sound of the generators that have been set up on the concrete. They are so noisy, we heard them all night long.”
The mother said there had been a police presence all night and today (Friday), but she was still concerned as some of the visitors had been acting aggressively towards neighbours.
She said: “My elderly neighbour went there to speak to them and they told him ‘get off my land’. I understand they need somewhere to live, but not in a car park in a residential area.”
There has been some suggestion that the group may have been displaced from Ealing borough.
The site is owned by Land Securities and is part of the Kodak and Zoom Leisure sites in Harrow View that are set to undergo a £320million redevelopment by the firm, which been working with Harrow Council on the project for the past three years.
Cllr Susan Hall, leader of Harrow Council, today condemned an illegal traveller site which has set up in the grounds of the former Kodak factory in Harrow, north West London.
She said: “These people have no right to simply set up home anywhere they like in Harrow. This is nothing to do with ethnicity or lifestyle choice; the fact is being a traveller does not mean you can take a pick and mix approach to the law, you have to abide by the same laws about where you can live as everyone else does.
“We will watch the situation carefully and if an eviction proves necessary, we entirely back the police in that.”
Police are currently assessing the situation.
More as we get it
