TRAVELLERS camped on Hulton Lane Playing Fields have been served with a legal notice by Bolton Council.

Council officers were due in court today to obtain a court order to evict the group.

A dozen or so caravans arrived over the weekend, with reports they damaged fencing to get onto the playing fields.

It is alleged that travellers arrived and sawed through the barrier fence to access Hulton Lane Playing Fields at around midday Saturday.

Cllr Toby Hewitt said: "The travellers arrived over the weekend and we have been working to get an eviction notice served and waiting for the result of the court hearing."

Cllr Hewitt said the council were looking at ways to deter travellers from coming on the field in the future.

"We are always looking at target hardening to act as a deterrent," he said, "You can't stop this indefinitely but we can make it more difficult."

Travellers have set up camp on the fields in Daubhill before prompting fencing to be built at Hulton Lane Playing Fields in 2017 ­— when caravans moved on to the site a number of times that year ­— at a cost of around £18,000.

One eyewitness told The Bolton News: "All that money invested on the boundaries of the field has just been wasted as the travellers now know they can get on without retribution."

It is understood the council's liaison officer is in touch with the travellers.