THE gipsy invasion of a car park on a commercial estate in Clifton Moor is over, but now the battle of the rubbish has begun.

One of the businessmen whose firm was beleaguered by the travellers complained today that City of York Council expected their landlord, British Land, to pay to clear the shredded paper, tree clippings and human excrement that the travellers left in their wake.

Mike Stampfer, managing director of Suomi print and design, in Lysander Close, whose window panes were smeared with excrement, said: "It is a cost we will ultimately have to bear and is totally unfair.

"For one thing, this is a cyclical problem. The gipsies return here every few months. For another it begs the question - what do we pay our taxes for?"

Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, was today discussing the problem of intinerants with the Lysander Close businesses, such as Lynx Automative Systems and David Flower, tax specialist, whose car park was dominated for a week by caravans. She is critical of what she regards as City of York Ccouncil's "inaction."

Richard Haswell, regulation unit manager in City of York Council's environmental health department, the man responsible for dealing with itinerants, said: "Under normal circumstances if there is any refuse or rubbish on anyone's land then the land owner is responsible.

"But these are not normal circumstances. Although we cannot give anyone an assurance, I have now sent someone up to the site to see the extent of the problem."

Liberal Democrat councillor, Simon Tarry, of Clifton Without ward, today called for City of York Council urgently to consider a new change of policy which would ensure that travellers could be removed quickly, or prevented from coming on to the sites. He wants the council to accept some responsibility for the rubbish and health hazards.

He said: "This same situation exists on open land, at nearby Centurion Park, where a large earth obstruction was bulldozed by travellers to gain access.

"They have now gone, but since October I have been requesting the rubbish there to be moved. It is a real health hazard.

"It is a level site earmarked for business development, but that is unlikely to happen while tree clippings, rubbish, burned out cars and a smashed-up caravan are there.

"We are trying to attract businesses into York, not drive them away. If we don't protect these sites businesses already here will start leaving and potential firms will look elsewhere."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.