A court order to move gypsy caravans is being sought by Bradford Council following complaints about travellers.

Around 30 caravans were parked on Knowles Lane recreation ground in Holme Wood after travellers drove on to the site as a travelling fair moved off at the weekend.

Since the travellers arrived, nearby residents have complained they no longer feel safe using the recreation ground or play area and others have complained of noise and litter.

One woman, whose daughter is a pupil at the nearby St Columba's School but did not wish to be named, said she did not feel safe walking her dog on the recreation ground and had banned her children from playing there.

She said: "The rec is lovely nowadays and they're just making a mess of it.

"They've got two horses grazing on the football field which we fought a long time for.

"My mother in law was confronted by a man using grass beside a footpath as a toilet the other morning. It shook her up."

A resident of St Margaret's Avenue, whose back garden is yards from the recreation ground, complained the travellers were using bushes as toilets and about the noise and smell from petrol-driven electricity generators.

He said: "They create a real racket in the evenings and the smell comes pouring into our kitchen.

"People are scared to use the rec because of what might happen to them."

Traveller Thomas Murphy said he had arrived on Tuesday but expected to move on in the next few days.

He said: "The field's too wet, I'll be going soon.

"We've had a couple of generators get stolen the other night and a video and TV was stolen from one of the caravans."

Other travellers said they would be moving off the field next week to travel to a Christian convention in Whitby.

One woman said her family had previously been to a similar convention in North Wales and they were making their way across the country.

A spokesman for Bradford Council's Gypsy Liaison Unit said the council had been granted a county court hearing on Friday to apply for an order to repossess the land. She said: "There are currently 30 caravans on the site. If the order is granted, it will cover all of them."

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