A group of travellers has caused fury in Warwick by settling on a popular riverside spot in the town.
Warwick District Council has now launched a legal bid to move the travellers off the site - but said it would be sending in the cleaners on Friday regardless.
About 40-45 caravans took over a public space on Myton Road by the River Avon in a leafy suburb of the town last week. The spot is opposite Warwick School.
Another group of travellers also settled on land at Warwick Racecourse, blocking off the stables. They had come to the area to attend the Kenilworth Horse Fair.
The travellers at the racecourse site eventually moved away to join the larger site by the river, but the council said it would cost "at least £2,000" to clean up the area.
It was left strewn with rubbish and gas canisters, which require special disposal.
The council is now taking legal action to move the travellers from the larger site.
A spokesman said: "Instead of having two different lots we have now got one large lot occupying a fairly small space. They have spilled over from the car park on to the grass, in close proximity to a number of houses on Myton Road.
"It is regrettable that the travellers have not kept their promise to move on, following their attendance at a local horse fair last weekend. Also regrettable is the considerable build up of refuse which the travellers had also promised to remove.
"The estimated costs to remove waste material from the previous occupation of a site in Kenilworth last year was put at £1,400. Given the larger numbers involved in the current occupation it is likely costs will be higher. It is however impossible to speculate on the actual final costs until they have moved on and a full assessment can be made."
He added legal action would commence "at the earliest opportunity".
The council is threatening to send in cleaning teams, backed by police if necessary, on Friday, whether the legal action has been completed or not.
The spokesman said there had been no trouble at the site.
At the site by Warwick Racecourse, travellers had broken into a secure area before settling there for a couple of weeks.
Course managing director Huw Williams said he was relieved there had been no race meetings while the travellers had been on the site, and that it was clear before this Monday’s meeting.
Elsewhere in the county, councillors are still going through the legal process to remove a camp of gipsies in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Stratford-upon-Avon District Council applied for a County Court injunction against an unauthorised travellers camp set up yards from the home of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell’s husband.
The site was set up after English Romany gipsies submitted an incomplete planning application to convert a field near the £1 million home of David Mills.
