A group of travellers who set up camp on picturesque Kew Green in what has become an annual confrontation with residents and Richmond Council have moved on.

The travellers arrive every summer which results in tension between themselves and local residents.

Every year, the Council spend thousands of pounds of public money to move them on through an application to the High Court that can take up to five days.

A Council spokesman said today: "The travellers have left Kew Green. Any rubbish left in the area has now been removed."

Richmond Council is among a group of 14 local authorities that has been seeking the right to move on unlawful traveller camps without having to go to court in each instance. In theory this will speed up the process and cut costs.

In January, the Court of Appeal found in favour of the right of Councils to take this sort of pre-emptive action, however this process has not yet been implemented.

At the time, Councillor Julia Neden-Watts, Chair of Richmond Council's Environment, Sustainability, Sports and Culture Committee, said: "Often traveller groups who come to our borough are co-operative with our officers and move on quickly. Occasionally this is not the case and we need to have powers to quickly move them on to prevent health and safety risks to our local communities."