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A GROUP of travellers has moved on from a country park - where it was claimed they left excrement in bushes - and set up home on a village green.

Two caravans that were part of a collection encamped at Avon Heath Country Park for more than two months arrived at Horton Road green in St Leonards at around 6pm on Wednesday.

Yesterday parish clerk Ann Jacobs was busy starting the process to move them on.

Mrs Jacobs said yesterday afternoon: "The gypsy liaison officer will be going out today or tomorrow morning. As soon as they have the travellers will be given notice to quit, but there has to be a reasonable time given to them.

"We have already got our solicitors on notice that this may have to proceed. It's a village green for the benefit of the whole community, but at the moment most of the community are not able to go on there freely."

At one point there were eight mobile homes at Avon Heath, but all except the pair that are now in St Leonards had already moved on before yesterday.

Cllr Ann Warman, district and county councillor for St Leonards and St Ives, vented her anger over the state the travellers left the park in. She said: "The area is no place for children. I have walked around the bushes and they are full of human excrement."

The travellers were first served notice to leave on June 30, but did not move, leading to the organisations seeking court action.

Cllr Warman slammed the Avon Heath landowner, the Highways Agency, for the time it took to move the travellers and said she would report it to a government watchdog.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "We have followed the process that's set out for us according to government legislation. We got a possession order through the courts on Monday. We served it to them on Tuesday; on Wednesday they were still there and we were talking to solicitors to get an eviction order when they left."

Clean-up crews were on site on Thursday.

During the group's stay, the café on the site was the target of verbal abuse, stones were thrown at cars and the toilets were closed.

Meanwhile in Bournemouth the council is preparing to go to court on Monday in a bid to evict the travellers from Kings Park.

7:00pm Thursday 24th July 2008

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