TRAVELLERS have returned to Olive Lane park in Darwen.

They arrived in two caravans on Friday and set up camp on a piece of grass between the play park and the skate park.

It is believed they are the group who were camped on the same spot from August until mid-September.

Darwen mayor councillor Roy Davies has been inundated with complaints from residents who are furious that the travellers have returned and not been moved along.

One resident said: “The travellers are back on what appears to be the pitch between the two play areas in Olive Lane.

“They really do show up the council and the forces of law and order as impotent, just imagine if tax-paying residents tried this on.

“We would be in front of magistrates and fined.”

A spokesman from Blackburn with Darwen Council said: “Blackburn with Darwen Council owns the land on either side where the travellers are, the land where they are is unadopted.

“The highways department visited the site yesterday and issued them with a 48-hour notice to remove.”

This comes a week after travellers who set up camp in the middle of Albion Street, Blackburn, on September 7 were moved along after a week. The travellers were believed to have come from a camp at Ewood who arrived on September 6 and were served with a notice for removal by the council.