GIPSIES have told officials their illegal site in Newent is sinking into the mud.

The travellers at Southend Lane say they need to keep shipping in lorry loads of stone to stop the infrastructure sinking any further.

Angry residents have been alarmed by the number of lorries arriving at the Newent site which the travellers have been told to quit by January 31, 2012.

But checks concluded that stone is not being used to add to the facilities created without planning permission in May 2009.

Councillor Len Lawton (Con, Newent) said: "Officers have visited the site and reported back.

"It appears they need to keep putting the stone down because the road is sinking. This supports what everybody said at the public inquiry about it being an inappropriate, low lying wet site.

"The road is sinking and it will keep on sinking because the site is unsuitable. At the moment it is just the road because they keep driving over it, but these mobile homes are not lightweight. Eventually they will sink as well."

Coun Lawton said officials have to act within the law but are checking the site on a regular basis.

He said the council have already made the travellers correct breaches such as too high fences and are currently working on "fulfilling the requirements of the planning inspector's decision".

But members of protest group Slam fear the more hardcore that arrives, the more chance of the site becoming permanent.

"It's seven lorries today, it was three a few weeks ago and six before that," said one upset resident.

"I cannot even begin to count the number of times we have told the council about a digger here, a couple of lorries there or the odd bit of fencing and lighting going up.

"It's drip, drip, drip but it all adds up and we are worried that the longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be for them to leave of their own accord or be evicted."

A government inspector has given the travellers until January 2012 to quit the field off Southend Lane and return it to the way it was.