Over the Easter weekend, a group of travellers illegally occupied a field in Flamstead, Hertfordshire, within the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They laid concrete and set up up to a dozen caravans. Local residents described the works as a "military operation."
Dacorum Borough Council issued a temporary stop notice and obtained an injunction prohibiting use of the site. Hertfordshire Police are investigating multiple reports of offences related to the unauthorised encampment on Friendless Lane, gathering statements and reviewing body-worn camera footage for possible arrests. However, police previously stated they lack powers to prevent such actions as it is a civil, not criminal, matter.