EARTH mounds have been created at a beauty spot on the East Cliff in a bid to deter future traveller incursions.

The prevention measures at Monkey Island were installed by Bournemouth Borough Council after a traveller group were evicted from the site in June.

Around 10 caravans and motorhomes moved onto the car park at East Overcliff Drive, staying for more than a week before they were evicted.

A spokesperson for the authority said the earth mounds were part of their "defence work against unauthorised encampments."

They added: "The creation of a series of low soil bunds are designed and positioned to cause significant hardship to anyone trying to drive across the grassed areas, as their caravan hitches cannot cope with the rise and fall of the ground level."

A decision on whether to introduce the measure to other sites will be made once the 'effectiveness' of the Monkey Island prevention has been evaluated, the spokesperson added.

The group left rubbish including gas cannisters, dirty towels, cans, empty plastic bottles of milk and old food, at the site.

Residents complained of rubbish piling up by the bins, while firefighters were also called out twice after rubbish that had been burned set fire to grass.

Patches of scorched earth could be seen at Monkey Island, with blackened and half-burned rubbish lying abandoned nearby.

It is alleged that the group moved two of the boulders placed on the borders of the land to access the site.

The boulders were initially placed at Monkey Island to prevent vehicles from driving onto the land.

"We will evaluate the effectiveness of this type of defence and then decide whether to put it in place on other sites."

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