A GROUP of travellers have set up camp in a public park in Colne.

Around six vehicles arrived at Ball Grove Park at around 9pm on Sunday.

Pendle Council has now started 'urgent' legal proceedings to have them removed.

It is the second group of travellers to arrive in Pendle in a matter of days, with a group also setting up camp at Brierfield Mills.

Four caravans parked up at the Grade Two listed building, which was home to Smith and Nephew until 2006, over the weekend.

Coun Paul White said: “It is unfortunate timing, this is a very popular park with children and it is in the middle of the holidays.

“Parents will obviously be concerned that they are on a park where there children are playing and our number one priority is to get them moved on as quickly as possible.

“I went down on Sunday night to see the camp. Council officers went down on Monday to ask them politely to move on, and they said it was their intention to only stay for a couple of days and they will have definitely moved on by Saturday.

“We have started legal proceedings to get them moved on just to make sure we can get them moved in a timely fashion.”

Neither group of travellers are the French group that recently set up on the Pendle Leisure Trust car park.

The travellers in Ball Grove Park are believed to be Irish.

Philip Mousdale, Pendle Council’s deputy chief executive, said: “We have started urgent legal proceedings to get possession of the land as soon as possible.”