A number of Traveller caravans have parked up on land in Ramsbottom today, Wednesday, which was been plagued by flooding.

The caravans are stationed at Broad Hey Wood, off Ripon Hall Avenue, on land where a blocked culvert has been causing flooding for five years.

Landowner Derek Abbott had been told by Bury Council to rectify the problem.

But earlier this year it was reported that residents were dismayed when machinery moved in and cleared a large section of the land, including trees and vegetation.

Much of Broad Hey Wood contains trees covered by preservation orders and horrified residents were concerned that some of them may have been felled and wildlife habitats destroyed.

Council officials visited the site and ordered work to cease until it can be assessed whether it is being carried out in accordance with regulations.

In March, a spokesman for Bury Council: "There is a culvert on this land which is blocked and has caused flooding on Ripon Hall for several years. 

"The council has issued the landowner, Mr Derek Abbott, with a formal notice asking him to deal with the blockage.

"The land also contains trees which have a blanket tree preservation order (TPO). 

"While it is possible, in certain circumstances, for TPO trees to be removed in order to facilitate maintenance work, we need to be satisfied that the criteria for this have been met.

"We have therefore instructed the landowner to stop all operations and have visited the site to identify what has been done and ascertain what his plans are."

Mr Abbott, who had a planning application for a country club at the site refused in 2019, insists the land he has cleared is not subject to tree preservation orders.

He said: "The only trees on our report are willows that seeded themselves on that land, which is my land.

"There are preservation orders on all the decent trees — all the beeches and ashes and a few silver birches have preservation orders. It's a piece of land that's derelict and it's not green belt. At present, it has no classification."

In November last year Bury Council sent Mr Abbott a Section 25 order under the Land Drainage Act that requires members of the public and landowners to unblock pipes that run through their land.

Mr Abbott was given three months to find the blockage and fix it or face possible court action.

He said that the drain has been found and temporarily unblocked but it is not possible to get a lorry to it, enabling a permanent solution, without bringing down trees.

Mr Abbott also said he was still hoping to develop the land as a country club and wants to find a communal purpose for it.