The company I worked for for the final 13 years of my working life (and my wife is still a senior manager there) own four-acre, undeveloped field alongside, but separate from, their factory-site. They used to let it for a peppercorn rent to a local farmer, who grew crops on it. That was a deliberate ploy in order to deter travellers, and it worked - in the five or six years it was let to the farmer, we had no traveller-camps, even though they camped on other, uncultivated areas on the same industrial estate.

When the farmer gave up his lease on the land, we were approached by several people from the local, official traveller’s site, who asked for permission to graze their horses there. We agreed, fenced and gated the field and, since that time, various travellers have brought horses to the field for periods of grazing FOC. It works very well, the piece of land is secure, no travellers have made any attempt to camp on the land, they are courteous to the company’s staff and treat company- and employee-owned property with respect.

Sometimes, you have to think a bit further, and perceive them as more than just “Fucking dirty, criminal gypsies”.