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Travellers move on after setting up two camps in Hastings
Travellers who set up camp in Hastings and St Leonards have now moved on.
Two different groups decided to make 1066 Country their temporary home but both have now left the town.
One group arrived in the car park of a supermarket on Tuesday evening setting up camp at the rear of the car park, next to the bottle banks.
A convoy of around a dozen vehicles blocked customers access to the recycling facilities but according to a spokesman for the supermarket, there was no further problems.
They said: "The police were called and arrived early Wednesday morning. They gave them two hours to leave and by 10.30am the travellers had gone.
"There was no trouble and everything passed off peacefully."
Residents near the second traveller camp - this time on the Bexhill Road Playing Fields in St Leonards, were less happy after suffering problems with noise, litter and aggressive dogs.
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "They turned up on July 6 and parked their caravans only feet away from some residents back gardens.
"There were two noisy generators, a host of caravans, dogs off leads, travellers urinating on a public footpath for all to see and kids on quad bikes shouting and screaming.
"One resident was bitten by a dog and children who normally play on the fields were too scared to enter the grounds."
The resident then criticised Hastings Borough Council for bending over backwards to accommodate the travellers - arguing tax payers money should not have been spent providing them with bins.
They also said the authority should have been more draconian in forcing them to move on.
Council spokesman Caroline Pattenden, said: "We do appreciate the frustration residents feel.
"Many of the gypsies and travellers that visit Hastings and St Leonards don't cause any problems at all, but now and again we are faced with a large clean up operation.
"We try to provide basic facilities such as bins and toilets to minimise the impact they have on the environment.
"We work within strict legal requirements, which means when we decide to evict, we have to allow seven to ten days to secure an eviction.
"Where we have agreed to tolerate an encampment we can sometimes negotiate a leaving date with groups outside the court process."
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Weather for Haywards Heath
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
