'We took a little holiday to Southend and came home a few weeks later': Dale Farm Travellers STILL living at site illegally two years on from £7million eviction - Essex

From the Daily Mail

Travellers are still living illegally at the Dale Farm camp two years after £7million of taxpayers' money was spent on a forced eviction.

Caravans are parked up in a road next to the site after a 10 year legal battle with Basildon Council ended with hundreds of police removing residents in October 2011.

The Travellers returned to the site several weeks after the eviction, after taking 'a little holiday to Southend'.

Nora Hargert, 47, told The Sun: 'We took a little holiday to Southend and came home a few weeks later.

'That's what travelllers do.'

She claimed that the group have not had any 'aggro' from the council or Essex police since returning to the site.

Ms Hargert added: 'They knew they were wrong.'

According to reports, 25 caravans are still parked illegally at the site in a sewage filled road, just yards from where a number of Travellers still live legally.

Local residents have complained that the continued presence of Travellers has affected the value of their homes and made it difficult to sell up.

One resident spoke of rubbish being dumped in nearby roads.

But Basildon Council has said that it will take action against remaining residents at the site.

Council leader Tony Ball told The Sun that the authority is awaiting a judicial review into the 2011 eviction.

He urged the group to work with the council to resolve the issue.

Basildon Council came under fire earlier this year when it reportedly approved a new Travellers' site just 800 yards from Dale Farm.