Residents on a Bradford estate have expressed their disgust after scores of travellers have camped on land near a well-known beauty spot.

Up to ten caravans are now parked on fields at the bottom of Bell Dean Road, Allerton - just acres away from Pitty Beck Valley where a massive rejuvenation scheme is under way.

Now residents are demanding action against the gipsies who they say are leaving rubbish and causing a disturbance to the area.

Ann Hammond, 39, of Wallingford Mount, said: "It's not a very nice sight - they've been there for a number of days now and they always leave a mess.

"I usually walk my dog on those fields but I wouldn't do now."

Herbert Taylor, 85, of Greenway Drive, added: "They are certainly not very popular - it's the rubbish they leave behind I'm concerned about. I wish they'd move on."

Residents say that the travellers have been camped on the fields since Sunday, but no action has yet been taken to move them.

Now they claim that more travellers are being attracted to the site and are turning it into a road-side business, selling carpets and sofas.

The arrival of travellers comes just days after councillors and residents planted dozens of saplings in Pitty Beck Valley to mark the beginning of a three-year campaign to transform the area into a green lung for west Bradford.

Vera Upton, 63, of Eskdale Rise, said: "It's disgusting. We're trying to regenerate the area and now they've come along and are making a mess.

"The trees were only planted last week. This sort of thing is just not on."

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "We are aware there are people occupying land unofficially and are monitoring the situation closely."

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