A large group of Irish Travellers facing eviction from their own land east of London have vowed to carry on living as normal a life as they can while the local council takes legal advice on removing them from the site.
The local authority is expected to decide in two to three weeks on what action it should take against the Travellers, whom it believes have developed their land in breach of regulations.
The Basildon District Council gave the Travellers until last Friday to remove bungalows which it believes were built without planning permission.
The Travellers now face being forced out and say that they have been offered no alternative site. Council spokesman Ray McKay said eviction was an option, but the council would be taking legal advice before any decision was made.
Around 400 people, with about 100 school-age children, live on the 6.5 hectare site at Cray's Hill, in Essex. "We are living a normal life, keeping our children in school," Richard Sheridan, spokesman for the 150 families, said yesterday.
"We will carry on as normal until the council makes up its mind," he told The Irish Times.
The council maintains the land must revert to green belt status. Council leader Malcolm Buckley told BBC radio yesterday there was "no choice" but to evict the Travellers as the reversion order had come from deputy prime minister John Prescott.