The council is hoping to move on a group of travellers who have camped illegally at a local park.

Richmond Council said the group gained illegal entry to King Georges Field on Monday 5 August by forcibly removing two concrete posts.

The group of travellers first arrived on Ham Common in the evening of Friday 26 July after which the authority started welfare checks and the legal process to move them on.

Court proceedings were issued on Monday 29 July and the council successfully obtained an order and writ of possession to legally move the group from the Common on Thursday 1 August.

The group then went to the Hawker Centre which is in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. "During this time, we remained in close liaison with the police and our parks patrol contractor," the council said.

"As King Georges Field is a different site to Ham Common, we need to go back to court to obtain a new possession order for this individual site.

"We do not have a permanent borough wide injunction therefore this is the only legal process available to us at present.

"We cannot get a blanket possession order for all green spaces in Ham, only where we have evidence of an unauthorised encampment."

Welfare checks were carried out yesterday morning and evidence gathered to allow the council to "swiftly apply to the courts for a hearing on Friday". Proceedings were issued and will be served by bailiffs which need to be displayed on site until the court hearing on Friday morning.

"We hope to receive a new writ of possession on Friday afternoon from the court to allow us to proceed with eviction once again and subsequent clean-up operation," the council added.