A group of travellers who have set up camp on the Beach Lawns in Weston-super-Mare have been ordered to leave by noon today (Tuesday).

The travellers arrived on the seafront over the weekend, and North Somerset councillors urged police to evict them under the Criminal Justice Act. However, the police said they believed the threshold for intervention had not been met, meaning officers could not move them on.

More: Travellers set up camp on Weston's Beach Lawns.

North Somerset Council applied to the magistrates' court for an eviction notice which has now been served on the group.

Updating the public on his Facebook page, Cllr Mike Bell said: "Unfortunately, failing police intervention, North Somerset Council has to jump through a number of hoops to evict.

"The council has concluded health and welfare enquiries and a direction to leave is being served to require them to vacate by 12 noon tomorrow (Tuesday) and should they remain we will commence legal proceedings."

He added: "The Government says it is going to change the law to make it easier to take action, but haven't implemented them yet. So we wait again.

"As I said in the last update, North Somerset Council is looking at ways to better protect the Beach Lawns from unauthorised encampments. But we shouldn't have to."