A LOCAL authority has been forced to step up security after travellers' caravans rolled on to Leeming Bar industrial estate at the weekend - for the second time in less than three months.

Ditches and earth mounds have been excavated as an emergency measure around sites in Tutin Road to deter travellers from any future illegal occupations following the latest scare on Saturday.

Police alerted to the arrival of five caravans at about 4.30pm finally succeeded in moving them on shortly before midnight. A spokesman said there was a "significant" police presence but the episode passed off peacefully with no arrests.

Business people and parish councillors reacted with dismay after extra security on the estate was said to be unnecessary last month by Hambleton councillors considering the impact of disturbances involving travellers over the May Day weekend.

Two families with eight caravans occupied two vacant estate sites for four days, bringing claims by local people that parts of Leeming Bar and the estate became no-go areas because of aggressive anti-social behaviour among travellers.

It was said that some travellers threatened local people, fought among themselves, damaged business property, failed to pay for goods and services and left parts of the estate covered in litter. A shop and a pub were closed for a time as a precaution.

Last month the council cabinet agreed with economic development officers that security measures on remaining unsold estate land would be unlikely to be a good use of public money because such occupations occurred only rarely.

Officers examined options costing up to about £5,000, including fencing, boulders and a ditch, as obstacles to travellers' vehicles. An earth mound combined with a ditch, costing about £750, was said to be the cheapest and most effective option.

Councillors said selling remaining plots should be a priority, with firms assuming responsibility for their own security, but agreed that the estate should continue to be monitored for traveller activity. Members called for better co-ordination with the police about travellers' movements.

Mr Mick Jewitt, head of planning policy and economic development at Hambleton, said the travellers who arrived on Saturday did not occupy any land but stayed on the road.

He confirmed that, after their departure, an emergency decision was taken at senior officer level to make ditches and earth mounds round certain estate sites because the travellers were believed to be still in the area.

The work had been done on one vacant plot still owned by the council and on another which had been sold and where work was under way on a new development. An access to land on the western side of the estate, towards the A1, had also been blocked by an earth mound. Only preliminary costs had been looked at.

Coun Susan Latter, who represents Leeming Bar on Hambleton council, said: "I am pleased we are doing something which hopefully will act as a deterrent. Everyone hoped travellers would not be back so soon."

She added: "When the cabinet considered security measures, I was prepared to give the council the benefit of the doubt because we had land that was likely to be sold and we would have been spending money for a short-term benefit. Now I am just pleased we have got on and done it."

Mr Kevin Procter, whose bus and coach business was one of the worst affected by the disturbances in May, said: "I feel easier now that this work had been done, but if ditches and mounds had been there in the first place we would not have had all this worry."

Aiskew Parish Council was on Wednesday to have confirmed the final draft of a letter to Hambleton, deploring the cabinet decision not to step up security, but Coun Terry Noyes, chairman, said the letter would be overtaken by events. He added: "I am not surprised travellers have come back because word has got around, and now Hambleton has been forced into action.

"All members of the parish council will welcome these measures, as will residents and businesses. The shame is that they were not there in the first place."