A field described as a wildlife haven has been bulldozed over the bank holiday weekend in what is being treated as an unauthorised land grab by suspected travellers.
Residents in the Hertfordshire town of Sawbridgeworth were left fuming with the destruction caused.
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The removal of wildlife at the site in Sheering Mill Lane, which began in the early hours of Saturday, appeared to be designed to make way for mobile homes.
No planning permission had been obtained for the works.
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Diggers ripped through the green space while fencing was erected around the perimeter, drawing hundreds of furious local residents to the scene in protest.
The field, situated on a floodplain, is known as a habitat for muntjacs, a small deer species, and other wildlife.
East Hertfordshire district council issued a temporary stop notice just after 10.45am on Saturday, before lodging an emergency application with the High Court for an injunction later that day.
The court granted the order, which was served on Saturday evening, and it demanded that all construction activity cease immediately.
However, a council spokesperson confirmed that work on the site had not stopped despite the injunction being in place.
A hearing has been scheduled for September 15, though the authority said it was “doing everything possible to secure an earlier date.”
The council spokesperson added: “Our priority is to prevent the site from being occupied and to bring the unauthorised development to an end as quickly as possible.”
Sawbridgeworth’s mayor, Angus Parsad-Wyatt, condemned the development as “a flagrant, deliberate breach of the rules that everyone else has to follow,” calling the destruction of the floodplain habitat “gut-wrenching.”
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He said councillors, officers, police and the Environment Agency had worked throughout the weekend to halt operations, but stressed that the law treats such matters as civil rather than criminal, leaving police without powers to intervene.
He said: “If the law lets this happen and leaves everyone powerless to act, the law is broken.”
Former mayor Greg Rattey said “tempers are very high” over what he described as an illegal settlement.
The incident follows an established pattern in which travellers are accused of purchasing rural land and carrying out development while council offices are shut over bank holidays, before applying retrospectively for planning consent.
Josh Dean, the Labour MP for Hertford and Stortford, said constituents were “deeply concerned” and feared the land would be “decimated and replaced with concrete.”
Nigel Blake, a 71-year-old amateur wildlife photographer who has long frequented the site, told the BBC: “I’m heartbroken… I’ve always been loyal to this place because I know it off by heart.”
Harlow Fencing, which delivered materials to the location, said it had halted all involvement after issues were flagged on Saturday morning, stating it had believed the project was “a legitimate new-build development” and had “supplied materials in good faith.”
Hertfordshire Constabulary confirmed it was aware of the dispute and was working alongside the council.
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