A group of travellers have been served four notices to leave council land in the space of justa few weeks.

Swale Borough Council revealed that a group of travellers that have been on the Isle of Sheppey "for several years" and are currently pitched in Thistle Hill community woodland, have now been served another Section 77 notice.

The group have recently camped at Kingsborough Manor community woodland, Scrapsgate playing field in Minster, and the Festival Fields in New Road, Sheerness.

The group are currently pitched in the Thistle Hill site, where they have been given until tomorrow lunchtime to move on.

A Swale Borough Council spokesman said: "We’ve visited the unauthorised encampment at Thistle Hill community woodland in Minster to carry out welfare checks and served a Section 77 notice.

"We know this group of people have been on the island for several years, and are looking for somewhere more permanent, but with each unauthorised encampment on our land, especially recreational grounds and green spaces used by the community, we have a legal duty to follow set processes.

"With each encampment, we visit the site to carry out welfare checks and decide whether we need to serve a Section 77 order to vacate the land by a set date. If served and the date not adhered to, we would then go to court for a Section 78 which gives the encampment a set amount of time to vacate the land."

One Minster resident claimed that there is rubbish and "dog excrement everywhere" in the community woodland, since the caravans parked there around 4pm on Sunday. He believed that the group entered the park via a footpath leading to Thistle Hill Way.

He reported seeing at least 13 caravans, with six generators which are running throughout the night. He said: "Dog excrements are everywhere and are unlikely to be picked up, and the amount of rubbish is disgusting."

Another resident said: "They're using a local footpath as a driveway with no care to children playing or dog walkers."

Last week, the caravans were parked on the Festival Fields in New Road, Sheerness which are used by New Road FC for football training.

The club initially cancelled its training sessions for the week, but thanked its community in a Facebook post on September 1 after revealing that three other clubs - Shurland Meadow Sports Club, Sheerness CO-OP Sports and Social Club, and Range Rovers Football Club - offered up their facilities until the Festival Fields were clear.

The caravans left the Festival Fields on Sunday afternoon and the site is being cleaned today, so the football club will be back training on its own field this week.

Before that, the caravans had been on the Scrapsgate playing fields in Minster, an area frequently used by dog walkers. The group arrived on Sunday August 21 and were given until Friday 26 to leave, so that the area would be available for residents during the bank holiday weekend. However, the group stayed an additional three days and did not leave until the following Monday.

Miriam Parker, a 63-year-old care worker from Minster, was walked her dog Bert through the footpaths in the park when her beagle ate a wet wipe covered in human poo.

Miriam described the path as having been "used as a toilet," and warned other dog walkers not to use the area.

The group are also believed to have camped on private land at the entrance to Blue Town over the summer, next to Naval Terrace.

Before that, they had been on land at the junction between Lower Road and Barton's Hill Drive, Minster.

In Gravesend, travellers moved onto the Hever Farm recreation ground in Singlewell at 9pm on Monday, after a similar-sized group left St Gregory's Park following a court order yesterday.

One resident claimed that the park is frequently used by children walking to Singlewell Primary School, and pupils and parents are now having to take the long route by the main road to get to school.