GREATER powers should be given to police and local authorities to evict travellers, the leader of BCP Council has said.

Vikki Slade made the plea after dozens of travellers who set up camp in Poole Park on Tuesday were spotted “behaving in a really unpleasant way”, using the closed play area and “defecating in public”.

But she said neither the council nor Dorset Police had powers to easily respond to the issues and urged MPs to support efforts to introduce new legislation.

A group of more than two dozen vehicles moved onto the cricket pitch in Poole Park late on Tuesday afternoon.

Dorset Police said it had received “a number of reports” of travellers in the area and that it was continuing to “liaise” with the group.

It held an emergency meeting with BCP Council on Wednesday morning to discuss ways of dealing with the issues being reported.

But without the council having a designated transit site for people to be moved to, the police can only carry out an eviction through the courts or, in the case of a “major incident” through a Section 61 order.

Speaking during her weekly Facebook question and answer session on Wednesday, Cllr Slade said she believe the threshold for its use had been met but the decision was one for Dorset Police.

Instead she has urged people to lobby their MPs to support strengthening legislation both for local authorities and police forces to deal with unauthorised encampments.

“The law needs to change on this so that councils have more protection and police have more powers,” she said. “Without that we are going to face this all the time.

“The alternative is that as a council we need to find a transit site and that would mean finding someone who would say ‘I don’t mind having 15 caravans coming down every year and parking up’.”

She said the council would “gladly” look at suggestions for suitable locations in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole but said it was likely any site would attract opposition.

A spokesman for BCP Council BCP Council spokesperson said: “We are carrying out our statutory responsibilities which includes by law compiling both a risk assessment and needs assessment. This is expected to take some hours due to the scale of the encampment.

"Once the assessment is complete a course of action will be determined to best manage the situation."