A GROUP of Irish travellers parked their caravans on a picturesque village green for five days before being moved on by the authorities.
Eight caravans belonging to travellers from Suffolk arrived on Springfield Green, Chelmsford, in the early hours of Wednesday morning before leaving at lunchtime on Sunday.
Chelmsford City Council contacted the police and told the families that they would be served with an injunction if they failed to leave the site.
Ryan De'ath, speaking on behalf of the authority, told the Chronicle: "As landowner we did our inspections and raised it with the police.
"They are not supposed to be here so the police asked them when they were moving on.
"If they had stayed longer we would have issued them with an injunction.
"But of course the legal route is expensive and would have cost the taxpayers a fair bit of money."
After the travellers left at 12.30pm on Sunday the council paid a visit to the green to check if any rubbish or mess had been left behind.
"It was reasonably clean and clear," Mr De'ath added.
Chelmsford City Councillor Christine Garrett, who represents The Lawns ward, said she had received a number of calls and e-mails from worried residents, but said she was pleased with the speed of the council's response.
"I think between the police and the council we managed to reassure people that everything that could be done was being done," she said.
"We served them paperwork on Thursday morning. We had something like this a long time ago and we have not had any issues like this recently.
"I think it was handled really well and I hope people are reassured by our efforts."
