BASILDON council is planning to forcibly remove four caravans from the controversial Hovefields traveller site.

With fears of another huge camp developing, councillors have authorised direct action to get rid of vacant caravans from the site, off Hovefields Avenue, Wickford, therefore returning the land to green belt status.

Although what this “direct action” consists of, and to what level it will involve the police has not yet been revealed.

Chris Jackman, councillor for the Wickford Park area, sees the pros and cons in the decision.

He said: “Are we happy with the result? Yes and no, the direct action is only on the vacant site.

“It is progress, but the hard part is going back to the courts and getting permission to tackle the rest of the site.

“It is by no means over, but it is going forward.

“I think the frustrating part, for both residents and councillors, is how long these things seem to take.

“But we need to follow procedures, this is a big step forward, but you cannot go onto the site guns blazing, you may win the war in the media that way, but you fall short in the long run.”

The Hovefields site, which has been used by travellers since August 2016, is divided.

It consists of six plots, which the travellers are legally allowed to occupy due to a High Court injunction, “until trial or further order”.

Aside from the six plots, four caravans have been placed and hardstanding laid to the south of the site, which are not protected by the High Court injunction.

While residents in the six plots have all made themselves known to Basildon Council, no-one has come forward as residing in, or owning the four caravans in question, despite repeated attempts by the council to find out.

Direct action will allow the council to go onto the site and remove the four caravans.

In December, the Echo revealed councillors voted against direct action, as they chose to continue investigating the four caravans.

Those further investigations revealed that the caravans were in fact uninhabited.

In another move, Basildon Council will return to the High Court to apply for the removal of an exemption to an injunction order which allowed the occupiers of six caravan pitches on the northern side of the site to remain until they had exhausted all legal remedies.

It comes after an appeal which sought to overturn the decision of two High Court judges to refuse permission to bring judicial review proceedings against Basildon Council was dismissed in January.

Last year the council used the Section 70C planning power not to pass a retrospective planning application for land west of Hovefields Avenue because enforcement notices had already been served to remove unauthorised development which had already taken place.

The council has insisted the land represents a border between Basildon and Wickford.

Councillor Adele Brown, chairman of the Council’s planning committee, said: “In the interests of our residents, we are committed to upholding planning law and protecting the green belt.

“We have given council officers the green light to pursue practical and lawful enforcement actions to tackle the clear planning breaches that have taken place.”