QUESTIONS have been raised over the eviction of a group of “church-going” travellers from dedicated pitches near Ilminster.

A spokeswoman for the family said they now have nowhere to go and have now removed their children from St Mary and St Peter’s Church of England Primary School, Ilton.

While Jennifer Winter concedes they moved onto the Twisted Willows plot, at Chubbards Cross, without permission, she believes the situation could have been handled differently.

She said: “There are four families which have been pulled off the site and the children are settled in school.

"They are church-going people. They will have to set up at the side of a road again – parents and children have been crying about where they are going to go.

“This means children will be penned in the caravans again because of the roads, it’s such a shame.

"They have had to pull the children out of school because they have no idea where they are going to end up.

"We asked if they could stay here until they found somewhere else, but the answer was no.”

The families were evicted from the site on Friday, May 25.

South Somerset District Council delivered a letter to them by hand on May 11 stating they are occupying the land “without consent” requesting they “remove all belongings, vehicles and caravans immediately from the land.”

A spokesman for South Somerset District Council stated: “South Somerset District Council was awarded possession of the land in question by the courts.

“We will not tolerate unlawful occupation of our land, whether it’s dedicated to travellers or not, and will look to take action, where appropriate, to remove trespassers.”

A number of residents have written to the council expressing their support for the family, who have been described as “decent, clean and hardworking people.”

One family has told the council: “We have lived in Ilton for 21 years and have never had a problem with any of the travellers at the Chubbards Cross site.

They are as much a part of the community as everyone else. We do not object to the new family which has moved on to the site.”

A spokesman for the council added: “Before they moved onto the Twisted Willow land, our Housing Team did advise them to look themselves for land and not to rely on anything coming from the council because we did not have any vacancies.

“The families were also advised that we could not let them all on site, even if there were spaces, because of the need to ensure that the community on the Ilton site is balanced.

“Before they were evicted, housing officers made enquiries to see if some or all of them could return to where they were before they were on the roadside.

"The council carefully considered all options before taking legal action to remove trespassers.”