AN MP has welcomed the news that two councils have won a High Court ruling on illegal encampments.

Last week, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council were in court on Monday last week to gain an interim injunction effectively banning travellers from setting up unauthorised encampments or developments on sites they do not own in a large portion of the borough.

Anyone who breaks the injunction, which begins immediately, faces the threat of arrest if they do not leave a site immediately when asked to.

North East Hampshire MP Ranil Jayawardena said: “I am pleased that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has listened to me – and local residents – and took legal action to secure an interim injunction at the High Court. This gives our local police further and faster powers to protect the areas most targeted by unauthorised encampments.

"For instance, around the villages of Bramley and Silchester, it should now be possible to deal immediately with any sites to limit potential damage and clamp down on unacceptable behaviour.

"Hart District Council will, I trust, be considering this course of action as well."

Mr Jayawardena recently presented a petition to the House of Commons calling for more action to be taken to protect communities from unlawful sites and that police be given more powers to remove these encampments.

The MP added: “Unauthorised encampments are a nuisance to law-abiding citizens and I will continue my work in Parliament to reach an new legal settlement that upholds the rights of ordinary citizens over their own property. This High Court injunction confirms that the law is moving in our direction.”