ALVESTON residents are furious after travellers again invaded the village green and left it covered in rubbish.

Five caravans moved onto the green space off Down Road on Thursday, June 27, and stayed until Thursday, July 4.

"They left litter and debris strewn across the site, and excrement on the children’s slide and play equipment," resident Shelagh Davey told the Gazette.

Mrs Davey, who lives opposite the park, said the group also had a portable loo with them, which they emptied into the hedgerows.

She added that the path around the green was blocked with large branches and logs, which she believes had been dumped by the travellers after they had carried out gardening jobs in the area.

The green has been a popular spot with groups of travellers over the years, and many residents have called for defences such as boulders or fencing to be installed which could prevent access.

Mrs Davey said: "We've been asking the council to do something to make the park inaccessible to travellers for the last four or five years.

"We'd like boulders, hedges or bollards be installed near the road, but the council say that it's not possible as there are a number of utilities running underneath the site and it needs to be accessible."

Mrs Davey said she is so frustrated by South Gloucestershire Council's lack of action and that she has now started a petition to try and bring about a change.

A South Gloucestershire Council spokesperson said: “The encampment has now left Alveston Down and the area has been cleaned and restored by the Council’s StreetCare team.”

Cllr Matthew Riddle, who represents Alveston and the Severn Vale ward on South Gloucestershire Council, said: “I am very pleased that the travellers have moved on after the Council swiftly served notices on them, but am very disappointed by the anti-social behaviour, especially late at night, and the state that the green was left in.

"I am thankful however that the resulting mess has already been cleared.

“My fellow Severn Vale member, Cllr Keith Burchell, and I have organised a meeting with the Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, senior Council officers and Alveston Parish Council to seek short and long-term solutions to this annual and sometimes more frequent trespass.

"Residents are collecting a petition for action which we will present to the Council this month.”