IRISH travellers have moved their caravans on to a playing field in Holtspur today.

Police said they are liaising with the travellers and Beaconsfield Town Council, which owns the land in Holtspur Way.

One of the travellers, Lisa, 40, did not want to give her surname, but told the Bucks Free Press this afternoon: “We are going to stay as long as we can.

“The council have come down and asked us to move but we know our rights as travellers and they have to get a court order to get us off. If we are told by the courts to go, then we’ll go.

“We don’t cause any hassle and we keep our rubbish bagged up and put it in the bins. We keep ourselves to ourselves, we are not trouble causers.

“It’s our way of life to travel in the summer and that’s what we do. The residents don’t want us but we’ve given them no cause for concern.”

She said they had previously been living in Derbyshire, but were staying on the site of an old factory in Wooburn Green last week.

One neighbour of the playing field said: “We really don’t want them over there. The council and police have been up here but that was it – we don’t know how long they are going to be there.”

Another said: “Everyone is worried about it. But it’s just a case of waiting now and hoping that we don’t get any more.”

But another woman, who said her daughter’s dad was a traveller, said she had been over to talk to the families and urged residents not to make judgements about them.

She added: “They aren’t causing any trouble but people have already got something to say about them. They are just like me and you, they just live in a different way....You’ve got to be a bit open minded and give people a chance.”

All the residents asked not to be named.

A separate group of travellers remains at Kingsmead in Loudwater after moving there on Friday (see related links)