A GROUP of travellers who have set up camps at six sites in Hyndburn this summer have cost two councils almost £6,000 trying to remove them.

Each time the group has been evicted from one site they have moved to another nearby, leading to calls from officials for stronger powers to deal with illegal encampments.

Both Hyndburn Council and Lancashire County Council have incurred legal costs in getting the travellers removed, with Hyndburn picking up the bill for cleaning up after them once they have left. Each eviction costs around £1,000.

The group was removed from Star Street, Church, this week, after they had parked up on the road side next to the printing works buildings. They appear to have now left the area.

County councillor Jean Battle, who represents Accrington, said: "They have been creating a real nuisance to residents. There were about four caravans parked in Star Street and delivery vans were finding it difficult to get past them.

"Several elderly residents had contacted me because they were too frightened to walk out at night because of the noise and rowdy behaviour going on."

Each removal has required a separate court action. This bans a specific group from the site for three months - however they could be replaced by a different group immediately and the legal process would start again.

Coun Battle said: "This whole mess is costing local council taxpayers a fortune. We are hard pressed for money as it is and I am sure that Hyndburn people would rather see their money spent on essential services like fire-fighters or schools. We need extra help to stop this happening again in future."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope is backing Coun Battle's call for help: "Local councillors like Jean have worked really hard to resolve this but I'm not convinced that the government has given them enough powers.

"Local businesses have been losing money, people have been intimidated, as well as the cost to the local community. I will be raising this with government ministers as a matter of urgency to demand a fresh look at the legislation to give councils and the police more powers to tackle this."

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe has also offered his support. "We can't have people setting up camp sites willy nilly. We really need to be able to deal with this problem effectively."

The travellers were last seen heading towards Blackburn.