TRAVELLERS are now at Christchurch station with more than a dozen caravans camped illegally on railway land beside the main Waterloo line.

Network Rail, which owns the narrow strip of land beside the railway line between the station and the Barrack Road bridge, has already begun the necessary steps to evict the travellers.

But residents of homes in Clarendon Road whose gardens back on to the derelict site fear it could take weeks before the uninvited visitors are removed from their doorsteps.

The convoy arrived at around 5pm on Sunday April 3 after gaining access from the Fairmile Road end of the site.

Nearby residents claim the travellers used power tools and machinery to clear the site, which was quickly occupied by around 20 caravans and other vehicles.

The overgrown and derelict former railway sidings have been the scene of several abortive bids to redevelop the land with housing, including a scheme for 30 flats and houses which was turned down by council planners in January.

Residents who objected then to permanent homes are now pressing the council and landowners for action against the temporary encampment.

"The council can't do anything because it is private land.

"I called Network Rail and they said it would be a long drawn process," said one Clarendon Road resident.

Her husband was critical of Network Rail for failing to heed local concern about the security of the site and removing chains and locks which residents themselves had installed to prevent illegal access.

And there were concerns the land was needed for emergency access to the railway station, as happened when the air ambulance was called to treat a woman who fell in front of a train on New Year's Day.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are looking into it."

First published: April 5