TRAVELLERS have set up camp on Eastleigh's playing fields, signalling the start of a summer invasion, residents fear.

The group of almost 30 vans swooped during the night and by yesterday morning had set up the altest camp on playing fields in the Stoneham Lane area.

Hampshire County Council officers immediately visited the site and are currently taking steps to secure the area and remove the travellers as quickly as possible.

Scores of men, women and children are occupying the playing fields and a spokeswoman for the county council said there are between 26 to 28 vans there at the moment.

She said: "Hampshire County Council's traveller liaison officers visited the site to carry out a needs assessment as part of our normal procedures and we are taking steps to secure vacant possession of the site as quickly as possible, as we're obliged to under statute and case law."

The invasion comes just weeks after Eastleigh police warned residents that the usual summer arrival of hundreds of travellers - which costs tax payers thousands of pounds to clear up - is imminent.

Eastleigh-based Chief Inspector Barry Talbot said: "Landowners and their agents really need to be aware that they have the legal responsibility to deal with trespassers and not the police, as many people believe. Trespass is a civil matter.

"Although the police do have powers to remove trespassers under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, they are very limited and any action taken has to be sensitively and carefully handled.

"Use of police powers has since been further constrained by virtue of case law and the European Convention of Human Rights legislation."