Residents of Willows Green, near Felsted in Essex, have confronted Uttlesford District Council over its failure to remove an unauthorised traveller encampment that has occupied a local field for four months. The dispute has drawn attention because a similarly unauthorised development in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, was cleared within days by a different local authority acting through police and court action, prompting locals to question the inconsistency in how the two councils responded.

Around 60 residents attended a council meeting to demand action, with one, Tracy Williams, describing how around 50 lorry-loads of hardcore were dumped on the agricultural land over the May bank holiday weekend, with workers bussed in to build access and pitches over four days while, she said, the council "did nothing." Councillors said the site had not been cleared because there had been no racism or threats of violence, and told residents that pending High Court contempt-of-court proceedings against the developers limited what they could publicly disclose. Two families remain living on the site without imminent threat of eviction, and residents say sewage and water arrangements at the site remain unclear.