MORE than 50 vehicles have been taken away from a site used by travellers for more than 10 years.A huge clean-up operation is taking place at the Wetfield, Saddlemaker's Lane, Melton, near Woodbridge, to tidy up the hilly site where a large encampment of travellers stayed.

MORE than 50 vehicles have been taken away from a site used by travellers for more than 10 years.

A huge clean-up operation is taking place at the Wetfield, Saddlemaker's Lane, Melton, near Woodbridge, to tidy up the hilly site where a large encampment of travellers stayed.

Workmen have spent several days on the land and they have taken away 55 cars, five lorries and three caravans. Buses have also been used as homes and workmen found a horsebox had been lived in.

Travellers had been warned they would be evicted from the Wetfield at 10am yesterday and over the last few weeks there has been a steady stream of travellers moving to other locations. By the end of last week there was just a handful of people still living on the Wetfield.

Up to 100 travellers have camped there but recently a consortium of people bought the Wetfield to stop travellers living there and spoiling the appearance of the village.

Graham Laight, Melton parish council chairman, said: "We are pleased that the site is being cleared and that the Wetfield matter has been drawn to a conclusion."

The land was filled with a wide range of rubbish including shopping trolleys, bottles, cans, household appliances, gas cylinders, bicycles and children's play equipment.

Suffolk Coastal District Council has spent thousands of pounds in recent years in making three evictions from the land. But the council's powers were limited because the land was owned by a person living in Holland who was not in good health.

However, the land was recently sold to people living in the area and this made it easier for action to be taken to evict the travellers, clean the site and prevent any further unauthorised use. The new owners have been unavailable for comment and it has not been made public who is paying for the clean-up operation.

Suffolk Coastal District Council has written to farmers in east Suffolk to warn them the travellers could be looking for new places to camp. Parish councils have also been urged to take action to secure their land against unauthorised access.