Illegal campers given ultimatum at Eastney beauty spot

The Ferry Road location in Eastney has become a seething cauldron of tension as visitors and people who work in the area have grown increasingly angry about campervans and vehicles making it their home.

Travellers, on the other hand, have claimed they were doing nothing wrong with them disputing Portsmouth City Council's authority over the land.

But under mounting pressure, the council has finally shown its teeth and issued legal notices to vehicles parked in the bay - including a stark warning of action if owners do not comply with the order.

Roy Goulding, Community Safety Manager at Portsmouth City Council said: '˜Legal notices on have been issued on all unauthorised vehicles and caravans instructing that they should leave as soon as possible.

'˜We want to work with the individuals in this area to ensure they move on quickly, however failure to comply or engage will mean that we will be forced to pursue the issue through the courts.'

Despite the notices being issued last Friday no time frame has been given in which vehicle owners have to comply - raising fresh fears travellers will exploit this and remain at the site.

When The News visited the location it remained packed with campervans and vehicles - including many that were encamped there two months ago along with some new additions.

Notices put up at the site stated: '˜If you fail to comply with the direction as soon as practicable or if you enter the land again with a vehicle within the period of three months beginning with the day on which this notice was issued (July 20), you may be committing an offence and are liable to be prosecuted.'

But while people at the site have welcomed what they see as long overdue action, they are adopting a '˜wait and see' approach to see if it will be enforced.

'˜It's good to see some action at last but I doubt they will go,' one person, who wished to remain anonymous said. '˜I think in the end they will have to be towed. They've shown they don't care for months so I would be surprised if they started obeying the law now.'

Another person added: '˜I think some of the travellers are taking it seriously - there's already been a group who have moved out. Hopefully the message is finally getting through. The area has been ruined for a long time.'