STINKING piles of rotting rubbish, rubble and discarded garden waste have turned a popular Bournemouth park into a dumping ground after travellers moved off.

See pictures of what the travellers left behind

Fifteen caravans on the field next to Duck Lane, West Howe left the site on Sunday evening, just hours before an eviction notice was due to be served.

Residents had already complained about motorbikes and quad bikes churning up the field as well as building and gardening waste being discarded on the land.

But yesterday morning the extent of the debris and damage became clear.

More than 15 piles of bin and carrier bags, takeaway boxes, dirty nappies and other litter, including human excrement, lay strewn over the field where the caravans had stood.

And at one side of the field, next to Elmrise Primary School, chunks of Tarmac, bricks and concrete were piled high, with more dumped waste in nearby woodland. Branches and turf were stacked next to the rubble with bags and litter thrown into the hedgerows. Other items, left behind, included DVDs, water carriers, broken glass, nails and food waste.

Resident Virginia Warwick, 58, said: “They’ve left all their personal waste and there is glass embedded in the field. I want to know if they will be prosecuted for the fly-tipping?

“I don’t even know if there was anything done about the bikes being ridden around the field, but it has left a real mess.”

She added: “People were too intimidated to go there and children couldn’t use the play area.

“I can’t imagine the cost of clearing it all up.”

The group moved onto Pelhams Park in Manor Farm Road, Kinson, displaying landscape gardening adverts on their vans.

Ward councillor Cllr Beryl Baxter said: “I have contacted the officers for an update and have informed them that they need to sort out the Duck Lane site for the sake of local residents.”