Angry residents living near a Saughall cycle path which has been ‘taken over’ by a convoy of travellers are at the end of their tether as the encampment enters its fourth day.

More than half a dozen caravans arrived on the land, situated on the Welsh border with Sealand, last Friday afternoon -causing chaos for those living nearby who claim the noise and litter issues are becoming unbearable.

But much of the anger has been directed at Sustrans North West, the charity who own the land and North Wales Police, who have told the community they are unable to act unless the landowners make an attempt to remove the convoy.

Simon Hyde, who lives on Yew Tree Avenue in one of the houses that run alongside the cycle path, told The Chronicle: “It’s the complete inaction by both North Wales Police and Sustrans that we think is the biggest issue. Our local community officer told us they can’t issue a Section 61 notice unless a formal issue has been lodged.

“On Friday when the caravans arrived, Cheshire police moved their motorcycle in front of the caravans but had to move because it was being dealt with by North Wales Police who arrived and just let them (the travellers) get on with it.

“There are 40 homes alongside the cycleway that think North Wales Police couldn’t give a monkeys as they told us they could only act if Sustrans had made an attempt to try and get them off their land which they have not. We’ve been messaging and calling them asking to work together with them since Friday and heard nothing from them all weekend. The bottom line is they just don’t know what to do. They have not kept in communication with residents whatsoever.”

Mr Hyde added: “There are rowdy kids, a loud generator making a lot of noise, human pee lying around young children, they have emptied their bins all over the place, which police saw them do, and there are the contents of a human toilet on the ground. Children have seen other kids exposing themselves and one cyclist had a ball thrown at them. There is so much rubbish and mess down there, it’ll be a massive cleanup operation.

“Everyone is basically scared by their presence. I am 6ft 1in and have played rugby all my life but I won’t go down there.”

However, a North Wales Police spokesperson said: “All we can say is that this is a civil matter which will be dealt with in the civil court. We are not aware of any criminal damage and have had no reports of vandalism made to us.”

When The Chronicle contacted Sustrans for a comment, regional director Rosslyn Colderley, said: “Over the weekend Sustrans was in constant contact with the local police and we visited the site as well as representatives of local residents. We also spoke with the local parish councillor and others this morning.

“Sustrans is now well underway with the process of moving the travellers from the Greenway and we are preparing to clean up once they have departed. We are unable to give exact timescales for the process at present but will report these as soon as we can.

“We have been advised that it is possible for this situation to be resolved in a matter of days rather than weeks, although of course we cannot guarantee this will be the case. However, we have a team in the local area inspecting the security of the surrounding access points and liaising with other local landowners. We are working hard to try and resolve this situation as quickly as possible.”

She added: “Sustrans is a charity and this is an unprecedented situation for us. Of course we must ensure we follow the correct process and make sure we take the most effective course of action.”

The Chronicle also attempted to contact Cheshire Gypsy and Travellers Voice for a comment but as yet, nobody responded.