A group of travellers who set up their homes in a commuter car park on the outskirts of Medway, have now moved on while another group are still at Riverside Country Park.

Around 20 plus caravans and their vehicles set up home at the Wigmore Coach Park and Ride Car Park, on Monday night.

The car park, in Maidstone Road, Wigmore, is used by people who commute to London on the Kings Ferry coach services but coaches were unable to make it into the stop as they are unable to even access the car park.

Police officers were seen at the site and they are providing support to the land owner, Medway Council.

At Riverside Country Park, in Lower Rainham Road, Gillingham, another group also set up their caravans on a field there, just days before the English Festival is set to take place at the site.

The group also arrived at the park on Monday night.

Ward Cllrs, David Carr and Martin Potter updated people on the situation on their Facebook page and said Riverside Rangers were exploring options for blocking the entrance.

Cllr Potter said: "We have worked with council officers to activate the new protocol we had put in place following last year's challenges.

"This has yielded a much better response with the legal process getting underway immediately.

"We do require the court order to instruct bailiffs and this is what we are now waiting on at this time.

"In terms of managing the presence of the group consisting of seven caravans, we have got council officers to block the breach and put 24 hour security with two dog units at the field and there is also security in other parts of Riverside.

"In terms of protecting the field in future, we have already upgraded the defences around the hard standing and there is a plan to allow the field to become a meadow making it more challenging to pitch a caravan.

"However, we need to do more and therefore we are looking at digging a trench, which although potentially unsightly is clearly now necessary."

Perry Holmes, Medway Council’s chief legal officer, said: “We were informed that a group of travellers set up an illegal encampment in Motney Hill, Rainham, on Monday evening.

"We have visited the site and formally asked the group to leave. We will continue to work closely with the police to monitor the situation and we will be following a civil legal process to move them on.

“We would like to thank residents for reporting the matter to us and in response to concerns raised by members of the local community, we have arranged for security officers to visit the area over the weekend.”

Medway Council said The English Festival will be going ahead as planned tomorrow.