GIPSIES accused of defecating in bushes on a North-East recreation ground could face eviction tomorrow.

Darlington Borough Council is to apply for eviction orders at the town's magistrates' court for ten travellers parked on land behind Estoril Road, Darlington.

A resident whose home backs on to the council-owned land told a Firthmoor community safety meeting: "They are defecating in the bushes and the field is covered in horse manure."

The woman, who asked not to be named, added: "I can't let my daughter play on that field. Who is going to clean it up?"

A council spokesman told The Northern Echo there were about 35 vans parked on the field.

"We have served notices on ten people there - these are the ten that have been there the longest," he said.

"We have a set procedure where we give them seven days to leave and then we go to court and ask the magistrates for permission to have them removed."

He said the authority's environmental health department was aware that the families had been using the bushes as a toilet.

"All we can do is get them off the land," he said.