WOODEN bollards or granite barriers could be the answer to keeping travellers off Lion Green. The Herald has learned that an exploratory meeting has already been held by Hasle- mere town councillors to think through the options to prevent the unwelcome visitors returning to the green after last month's incursion. Police speedily dealt with the sudden arrival of more than 20 Irish travellers after they arrived en masse on July 13. The travellers had intended to set up camp on the town council-owned green for several weeks. But police converged on the site within an hour of their arrival and made sure the travellers packed their bags and left the site quickly. "Nothing has been decided and there are some councillors who are reluctant to spend the £20,000-plus needed to create what they consider would be visual impairment," Haslemere Mayor Brian Howard said this week. "Lion Green is not the prettiest green in the country, but it is pretty, and certainly the prettiest we've got, so we must be very careful before damaging it. "That one bad experience was well handled and the police were magnificent - I think we just need to be careful of a knee-jerk reaction." Options under discussion include going as far as fencing the green, but it is more likely any changes would involve using natural materials such as granite or nine- to 10-inch square posts to deter any more travellers. Some posts are already in place to prevent lorries damaging the trees on the edge of the area. "They would need to be at least four feet high in order to act as a vehicular barrier," Mr Howard added. Shottermill town councillor and Waverley borough councillor Jacquie Keen told The Herald that, as one of the Shottermill councillors, she would "hate to see the green fenced in. "It would almost turn it into a prison yard and we need to assure residents that we are not going to turn the area into a fortress," she said. John Harvey, a Haslemere resident and chairman of the Haslemere Police Community Partnership Group, which meets on a regular basis to discuss matters of public concern, said: "The last thing we want to see is concrete posts and steel tubes around the green." Mr Harvey is also chairman of Weysprings Residents' Association, which shares the reservations over fencing off the green. But he said: "This incursion could have been very serious and we can't risk that happening again." In favour of wooden posts or granite, Mr Harvey said that he too believed that an environmental solution that presented a practical barrier should be found to solve the problem. The group is set to discuss the matter at a meeting either later this month or in September. In a letter to The Herald last week, Paul Brooks, co-ordinator of Weysprings Neighbourhood Watch, said there was "a need to balance the open nature of Lion Green with the need to carry out reasonable steps to prevent future incursions." Discussions on the options for Lion Green will be debated by members of Haslemere Town Council at their finance and general purposes committee at 7 pm on Thursday, August 24 at Haslemere Town Hall.
