A group of travellers have been spotted pitched up at a public park and local beauty spot.

Several caravans were seen at Riverside Country Park in Gillingham this morning.

A dog walker claimed the group pitched up at around 11pm yesterday.

The coastal park covers 100 hectares alongside the Medway Estuary, including Motney Hill and Berengrave Local Nature Reserve.

It is home to various wildlife thanks to its varied environments which include mudflats, salt marsh, ponds, reed-beds, grassland and scrub.

The unauthorised encampment’s arrival in Medway comes a week after around half a dozen travellers pitched up next to a village’s main road.

Seven caravans have been spotted parked on the green between Ash Road and Hoselands View in Hartley last Friday.

On Tuesday, after the travellers were moved on from the area, they set up camp in a children’s play area just 200 yards away.

On Thursday the unauthorised encampment was set to be moved on after blighting the village for nearly a week.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson said he was confident residents around the area would be able to breathe a sign of relief this weekend once papers ordering them to leave as they will be served with orders to leave.

Mr Johnson said: “From the first evening these Travellers showed up in Hartley, I know that both Sevenoaks District Council and Hartley Parish Council have been working around the clock to try and have them removed.

“The Parish Council quickly obtained the court orders to have them evicted from Hoselands View but as we know, they have simply moved to the park in Woodlands Avenue.”

Last year new legislation was brought in to tackle illegal pitches on other people’s land or in local communities.

Under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, police in England and Wales were given new powers to address harms caused by such unauthorised encampments and new guidance was published.

Police have been approached for comment.