NOT for the first time Christchurch has suffered a summer of discontent as a large band of travellers camped in the town's 2 Riversmeet sports arena brought mess and mayhem to the borough where time is pleasant.

After months of expertly playing the legal system to stay one jump ahead of the exasperated authorities the travellers played their trump card of human rights to win a stay of execution when threatened with eviction.

They successfully swayed a court to turn down the council's eviction order bid by claiming a teenage mother among the group needed post-natal care.

While the mother and baby were never produced and were later said to have quit Christchurch to stay with relatives in London the encampment swelled to some 30 caravans leaving police and council officials apparently powerless and facing a tide of complaints over noise, petty crime, pollution and other antisocial behaviour from the travellers.

Now thousands of townsfolk have signed a petition and council leader Cllr Alan Griffiths is tabling a motion at the council meeting tomorrow evening calling for tougher legislation to help combat the illegal invasions and speed up eviction of the unwelcome visitors.

At the moment it takes up to a week for the council to regain possession of its car parks and public open spaces after serving direction notices on illegal encampments because under the current legislation the borough's first duty is to assess the welfare, social and educational needs of the travellers.

Cllr Griffiths said: "Of course everyone has human rights, but we are not taking into account the rights of the people who live here."

"It is grossly unfair that law abiding people in Christchurch should have to fund what is basically a free holiday for these people courtesy of the Human Rights Act. What about the human rights of Christchurch people?"

His motion calls for a change in the application of the human rights rules which would allow the council to go to court immediately and obtain an eviction order within 24 hours.

Checks showed many the families camped at 2 Riversmeet had permanent addresses elsewhere in the country and Cllr Griffiths also wants the definition tightened up to stop them enjoying the rights available to genuine travellers.

"We believe many of these people have a permanent address. If they want to come to Christchurch for a caravan holiday they should pay to use one of the excellent sites we have in the borough," he said.