DALE Farm families will launch more legal action against eviction today.

They are returning to the High Court to apply for two judical reviews seeking a ruling that it would be "disproportionate and unlawful" and a breach of their human rights to clear them from Dale Farm near Basildon, Essex.

The Echo can reveal a new third application, which alleges councillors who voted to clear the site did so based on wrong information, is also being lodged today.

lawyers will argue had they known walls and fencing at the site would not be cleared, they may have reached another decision.

Basildon Council has been battling for a decade to remove the travellers and their children.

The costly tangle of litigation generated has been condemned by critics as a "farce".

Today's one-day application for judicial review is being launched as the Dale Farm saga becomes a national issue.

According to a YouGov poll out yesterday, two-thirds of the British public support the council's attempt to clear 51 illegal plots which are home to about 400 travellers.

The residents applied to English Heritage to gain official protection status for the scaffolding gateway at the entrance, but the application was rejected yesterday afternoon.

They say it has become an "emblem of the struggle for travellers' rights".

The structure has been in place at the former scrapyard for five years and acts as part of the defence against bailiffs, a Dale Farm Solidarity spokesman said.

The clearance of the six-acre site was due to begin last week but a High Court injunction prevented bailiffs moving in while the courts grappled with fresh legal arguments.

Today, lawyers for the travellers are asking Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting at London's High Court, to rule that it would be unlawful "at this point in time" for the council to pursue its eviction policy.

They are expected to argue it would have grave consequences for the large number of children living on the site and their schooling, and those with medical conditions.

The judge is being asked to quash the eviction decision on the grounds that it violates the travellers' Article 8 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court of Appeal ruled against the travellers on a human rights application in 2009, but their lawyers now argue circumstances have changed and the law has since developed in relation to the rights of minority groups like themselves.

Even if their latest judicial review application fails, the travellers are still due to return to the High Court on Monday next week.

They will then argue before Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart that the council's plans to go onto the site to demolish hard standings for caravans and remove buildings, walls and fences will amount to "over enforcement", not covered by the enforcement notices.

There are already indications that the travellers are confident of securing at least six plots.