A group of travellers have set up camp on a popular Bristol beauty spot and are refusing to leave.
Five vehicles, including caravans, have been spotted on Clifton Down today (Tuesday, May 28).
The vehicles are stationed near Ladies Mile - land which belongs to Bristol City Council.
The authority has been made aware of the camp - which is believed to have arrived overnight on Monday.
A spokesperson for the council has confirmed that officers have visited the site to issue a trespass notice and undertaken welfare checks.
He added: “The occupants have been offered access to the Transit Site in Avonmouth and have declined, with the legal process to seek their removal now under way.”
Bristol City Council has one permanent caravan site in Ashton Vale with 12 pitches and one transit site in Lawrence Weston with 20 pitches.
Under current laws the authority has responsibility for the management of unauthorised encampments on their own land. This includes any action to remove the encampment.
Except in cases of immediate danger, councils are not permitted to remove encampments immediately.
Instead council officers will carry out a site visit to establish whether there are any welfare issues.
If there are none then the encampment will be offered a pitch on the transit site, but if they refuse it is then for the council to decide whether police powers are necessary to move the group on.
This is the third time that an unauthorised encampment has been set up at the Downs since April.
It is not clear if it is the same group of travellers, or a new one.
More information for and about Bristol's traveller and gypsy communities is available on the council's website here , including a myth booklet and brochure made in partnership with a group of gypsies and travellers to provide a more accurate picture of their lives and to promote better relationships with settled people.
