Get them out, now!

Coun John Broadley, of Church ward, wants Hyndburn Council to solve the recurring problem of the travellers camping in Bradshaw Street, off Henry Street, Church.

He said they had been camping there every year around July and August and stayed there making residents' lives a misery.

He said that in the few weeks the six caravans had been there they had left the area in a mess and created part of the fly-tipping problem behind the Commercial Hotel.

Coun Broadley said he had asked for bollards to be put in to stop them getting on the road, but he said the council's environmental health department told him that they had a legal agreement with the people to remain there.

Steve Todd, head of Hyndburn Council's environmental health, said: "I am not aware of any agreement set up with the travellers, but we know about them and are in the process of dealing with them appropriately." Coun Broadley said: "They come back year after year and cause great problems.

"I rang the environmental health department and I was told that the council had a legal agreement made a couple of years ago with them to park there so they could put their children into school and settle.

"But that is all a ploy to stay there for an extended length of time and they have no intention of settling down, as has been shown in the past."

A resident who did not want to be named said: "They've been there for up to five weeks now. I rang the police on the first night and they said they had a right to stay there and that eventually they would move.

"But they are real nuisance. They have their own car salesroom set up on the grass and they just pull out on to the main road without even looking.

"They throw their rubbish all over in the street and drive their cars all over, leaving tracks on the grass.

"The police were doing spot checks on passing cars recently and the travellers were all sitting outside laughing at those who were stopped. Why won't they do anything to them instead?"