THESE are the photographs that prove travellers are brazenly breaching a High Court injunction by preparing for an influx of caravans - sparking fears of a “Dale Farm 2”.

The aerial and ground shots obtained by the Echo show a large section of a two-acre field in Hovefields, Wickford, has already been covered in asphalt.

Other parts of the field appear to have been dug up while huge piles of dry asphalt lie in wait ready to be laid down.

Our exclusive photos also show long fences have been installed - potentially to allow a number of pitches to be claimed by traveller families.

The work is in clear breach of a High Court injunction obtained by Basildon Council last October after the authority spent millions evicting illegal settlers from the land and nearby Dale Farm in Crays Hill.

Residents fear dozens of families will soon move onto the site.

Jill Walsh, spokesman for Hovefields Residents Association, said work has been ongoing since about 30 trucks laden with hardcore and asphalt arrived at the site last weekend.

She said: “They are still bringing in hardcore and black chippings but they are using smaller, 7.5 ton trucks.

“They are being quite sneaky about it. What is going on is absolutely irrefutable - there is further development.”

Mrs Walsh’s son Chris wrote an open letter to Basildon Council last week claiming officers were warned about development on the green belt site as long ago as November.

He said the council had been “hopelessly inept”.

Mrs Walsh said he has still not received a reply and the council has not been in touch with her.

She said: “We just want them to come back to us with something but we have had nothing.”

Phil Turner, leader of Basildon Council, said the council is taking action.

He said: “We are continuing our investigations with a view to taking further legal action.

“We are pursuing all legal avenues currently available to us in an attempt to halt unauthorised development on the site.

“However, we must emphasise that these powers are inadequate and cannot provide the sort of swift and decisive response residents would understandably like to see.

“In recent years, Basildon Council has written to the Department for Communities and Local Government to call for meaningful changes to the law.

“We are repeating that call in the hope the law can be changed to give the council emergency powers to take immediate action in circumstances such as this.”