TRAVELLERS camped up on fields opposite Sainsbury’s at Amblecote have been given an eviction order.

Dudley Council has confirmed it has ordered the group to leave the playing fields next to the supermarket today (Wednesday) or face a forced eviction tomorrow morning (Thursday) with police and bailiffs in attendance.

The caravans have been on the site since last Wednesday (September 5).

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “Although this is not our land, we are supporting the land owners by exercising our powers to evict yet another illegal encampment in our borough. The travellers have been told they need to move on by today or a formal eviction, with the co-operation of the police, will take place tomorrow.”

Amblecote councillor Paul Bradley said residents in the area were "absolutely exhausted" with the situation - having experienced a summer of visitations by travellers last year in addition to the latest.

He added: "It's been absolutely frustrating. It hasn't been very nice at all."

News of the eviction comes just a day after Dudley Council confirmed it had received a letter from the office of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government - giving the authority the green light to progress plans for a transit site for travellers in Coseley.

Having a such a site in the borough will mean any travellers setting up illegal encampments in the Dudley local authority area can be ordered to move immediately to the dedicated short-stay site, which is due to be located in Budden Road, or leave the borough altogether.

The proposed site, which will cost around £280,000, will comprise pitches for around 40 caravans and it is expected to be up and running by early 2019.

But authorities believe the site will be barely used and will act more as a move to deter travellers from visiting the Dudley borough. They say traveller groups tend not to stop off in boroughs which have transit sites as they can be moved within two hours of settling and if they use the facility they must pay rent to cover the costs of power, water and waste disposal.

Cllr Bradley, who says he has been inundated with messages and calls from residents regarding the latest incursion at Withymoor, said news the transit site could now be progressed was very welcome and he added: “Hopefully after this lot have gone that should be it for us. We’re at the end of the season. By the time the next season starts we’ll have a transit site that we can move them to - and as has been proven up and down the country they don’t tend to go into boroughs that have got transit sites as they’ll be moved in a few hours."

Cllr Harley said he was “really pleased” the council was now in a position to progress ahead with the transit site following yesterday’s decision by the Secretary of State – James Brokenshire MP.