Travellers camp spotted on Stray grass land in Harrogate town centre

At least five caravans and cars have arrived on the grassy parkland next to Stray Rein.

This is far from the first example of illegal camps being set up in Harrogate at this time of year.

In fact, it has become a bit of an annual occurrence, one which usually comes to the same end - attention from the police and action by Harrogate Borough Council to move the travellers on.

Earlier this summer saw the arrival of a travellers camp at Oatlands Park in Harrogate.

As tends to happen in these cases, Harrogate Borough Council reacted by instigating proceedings for eviction notices to the travellers.

Last August saw staff at a top Harrogate school speaking of their frustration after finding they were limited to act on removing travellers who had set up an illegal camp on their sports fields.

The travellers reportedly told school staff they were on their way to a wedding in Ireland after attending the annual Appleby Horse Fair, Cumbria held annually each June.

But there have also been calls in the recent past from some local councillors from the Lib Dems and Labour to solve the issue by providing more temporary sites in the Harrogate district for travellers.

At the moment there are only two officially designated sites for travellers run by North Yorkshire County Council - at Bickerton and off Thistle Hill in Knaresborough.