It’s exactly nine years since bailiffs and riot police clashed with protesters and families at Dale Farm in Basildon as the eviction of the illegal travellers site finally got under way following months of legal wrangling.

Ugly, violent scenes erupted as the £4.8million eviction to clear around 100 families from the Crays Hill camp made headlines across the globe in October 2001.

The issue was as contentious and polarizing then as it remains today. While many supported Basildon Council for its tough stance on illegal camps blighting green belt land, others blasted the council as inhumane for its treatment of the travellers.

Nine years on and the carry on camping saga seems to have moved a few miles up the road to Rochford where a “merry go round of illegal travellers” pitching up wherever they like has led to pleas for action to be taken.

There have been so many instances of groups of caravans descending on land and car parks in the district in recent months that calls have been made for a permanent traveller site to be created in Rochford.

Last week James Newport, councillor for Downhall and Rawreth has insisted a legal site is necessary to stop travellers. He said: “I am frustrated by the continual lack of action in finding a resolution for all residents instead of this continual merry-go-round. We have no legal sites in our district where the council has failed to provide them for many years.”

Leader of the council, Simon Wootton has now scheduled an urgent meeting to address the ongoing issue with Mr Newport writing a strongly worded letter to council bosses insisting action is taken.

This is not the first time, however, that plans for a legal travellers site in Rochford district have been touted. Back in 2018 plans were submitted for a legal encampment to be created on a land opposite Goldsmith Drive in Rayleigh. In the end the application was voted down because council officers and elected councillors were torn on the matter.

At the time several caravans and traveller families had already been living on the green belt land, leading to numerous complaints from residents and councillors.

Concerns were raised over the development, particularly focussing on the visual impact of the site and damage to the wildlife and green belt that it was feared it would cause.

Council planning officers recommended the application be approved, but when it came to the crunch in the voting chamber the scheme was thrown out.

Residents in Rayleigh spoke of their relief and a two-metre high fence was quickly erected around the land to ensure it didn’t become another Dale Farm.

The failure of the 2018 application hasn’t stopped groups of travellers from setting up camp at various places across Rochford since then.

Over the weekend a group of travellers currently parked up at Rayleigh Leisure Centre were issued with a notice to vacate by Rochford Council and in recent weeks travellers have also descended on the Asda car park in Rawreth Lane and Rawreth Recreation Ground.

Last year Rochford Council leaders were also forced to act after travellers pitched up on council-owned land at Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park and open space near Grove Wood, Rayleigh.