POLICE made six arrests before travellers left their encampment on school fields.

More than 40 caravans left for Northumberland after spending almost two weeks on land next to Belmont School, in Durham. The travellers left behind tonnes of building rubble and domestic waste.

Two men, a father aged 39 and his son aged 18, of the East Howl Gipsy Camp, near Ferryhill, were arrested on suspicion of illegal waste dumping and bailed until May 14.

Two women were arrested for alleged shoplifting, another for resisting arrest and a man for alleged motoring offences.

Durham County Council had been due to seek an eviction order.

A spokeswoman said staff had begun to clear up the site.

"We'll be looking to see if there are any steps we can take to prevent access of the site by travellers in future," she said.

Residents had only recently cleared 50 bags of rubbish from the site, much of it left by a previous encampment.

John Everett, one of the clean-up organisers, said: "It will take bulldozers, huge lorries and a massive amount of money and manpower to clear the fields up.

"There must have been hundreds of tonnes left. It looks like a landfill site.''

Mr Everett said some of the land belonged to the school and there was concern that some of the school's "limited budget" would have to go towards the cost of the clear-up.

He added that residents, many of whom walk their dogs on the land, were keen to see measures installed to prevent any occupation in the future.