A CONSERVATIVE MP told the Commons he is “sick to death of travellers arriving” in Southend.

Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, urged the Government to stop travellers and “their antisocial behaviour” during an adjournment debate before MPs broke up for the summer.

He spoke as 20 caravans pitched up on Southend Rugby Club, in Sumpters Way, on Wednesday, casting doubt over when the club can restart training.

The group, who had previously pitched up at Trinity Football Club, on Eastern Avenue, have been given until noon today to vacate the land.

The MP said: “I am sick to death of travellers arriving.”

He thanked Rayleigh MP Mark Francois for his efforts in campaigning for tougher laws on traveller encampments by making deliberate trespass a criminal offence.

The group had previously been ordered to move on from Trinity Football Club following a court hearing on July 16.

Samantha Morris, 63, a resident of Sherbourne Gardens, said: “I am so pleased the police and council have dealt with this so quickly as I was beginning to worry how much more I could take.

“They have only been here a day and the noise is unbearable. It’s mainly the children - I know it’s not their fault as they are only playing but when it’s all day and night it’s just too much.

“I feel too intimidated to even go over to my allotment at the end of the road.

“They just can’t keep doing this - setting up home on land that isn’t theirs.”

A spokesman for Essex Police, said: “We were called to reports of an unauthorised traveller encampment at Southend Rugby Club in Sumpters Way, Southend at 3.40pm on Wednesday July 22.

“A Section 61 notice has been issued ordering the encampment to move off the site by midday.”

A Section 61 order gives a police the “power to remove trespassers” if there is reason to believes that they are trespassing on land with the intention of residing there for any period.

Council bosses considered a call last year for a borough-wide traveller injunction but it was rejected.