Meriden villagers could be prosecuted in a green belt land row – while travellers who triggered the dispute escape action.

Solihull Council said it was “exploring all options”, including seeking legal advice, after members of protest group Residents Against Inappropriate Development ignored an order to quit their shelter by Tuesday’s deadline.

The campaigners have spent more than 1,000 days opposing a traveller encampment at Meriden, near Solihull.

Travellers living on the site, off Eaves Green Lane, were last week granted a 21-day extension to the March 31 deadline they were originally given to leave.

A judge said they could stay for another three weeks because of the recent bad weather.

But RAID volunteers vowed to ignore the demand to end their own protest and vowed to stay until the last caravan had departed.

Group chairman David McGrath said simply: “We go when they go.”

He added: “We think it’s fair that, if the travellers are given another three weeks to stay, then we should be too. You can’t treat two sets of people on opposite ends of the road differently.

“We will stay here until the last caravan is removed.

“We will not tolerate another Dale Farm situation, having raised and spent £90,000 from the community and spending every day here.

“When the last caravan goes we will be looking to get the land reinstated.

“Legally, the travellers are obliged to sort the land or they will be in contempt of court. If it’s not done within a month then the council has to take them to court.

“And if the council doesn’t we will stage a protest on the steps of the council house. We hope it won’t come to that and that the council will act fairly and we will see the desired results.”

A council spokesman said: “We are going through the due planning process to resolve the situation and achieve a positive outcome.

“We are also exploring all options which includes seeking legal advice.”

West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire, a supporter of RAID, said it would make sense for the Meriden residents to be allowed to stay until the travellers left.

“Protesting is a fundamental right in a democracy,” she said.

“I know from speaking to many of the protestors that they are looking forward to the day their protest becomes unnecessary. It is wholly right and sensitive that their protest camp should be allowed to remain until the travellers have respected their legal obligations.

“It would be extremely remiss of Solihull Council to take any action against the protestors for exercising their democratic rights.

“Many of the protesters are of a generation that sacrificed so much for the right to protest.”

Solihull councillors previously rejected an application from the travellers to set up an alternative camp near their current development. The travellers also scrapped a last-ditch bid to avoid eviction having run out of money.