A SENIOR councillor has hit back at calls from the traveller community who believe they should be allowed to stay put during the coronavirus pandemic.

Basildon Council deputy leader Kerry Smith believes the argument “doesn’t hold water” after it was claimed that travellers could be a higher risk of catching the virus.

It comes after data revealed how almost two hundred traveller caravans were pitched on unauthorised sites in Basildon shortly before lockdown.

Of these, 110 were on sites classed as “not tolerated”, meaning Basildon Council had made efforts to move them on.

This could include issuing a planning enforcement notice or obtaining a court order to ban them from the site.

Mr Smith said: “The Government has began to lift lockdown, is sending people back to work, and soon the kids will be back to school, so the argument doesn’t hold water.

“If they are setting up somewhere they shouldn’t be, the law simply needs to be enforced.

“They are just as at risk as anyone else.

“If the Government doesn’t want to enforce the law they need to give local authorities money to secure our parks and open spaces. Nobody seems to be taking action while the pandemic continues.”

The latest Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government snapshot shows 191 traveller caravans were on sites without planning permission in Basildon in January.

However, with a total of 477 caravans in Basildon in January, it means the majority were on authorised sites - an increase on the 359 caravans recorded at the last count in July 2019.

The Travellers’ Times, a national project which seeks to challenge discrimination, has called on local authorities to work with travellers to agree on a temporary period for them to remain.