Cornwall Council is under fire after allowing a group of travellers to move onto a piece of land at Pool.
The travellers, who had been camped on the car park of Carn Brea Leisure Centre for a week, arrived at the council owned wasteland at the end of Druid's Lane over the Easter weekend.
Horrified resident Abigail Wyatt said: "I observed that both the metal gate and the granite boulders that normally prevent vehicular access to the footpath had been removed.
"Fearing that this had been the work of the travellers who, in times past, have illegally camped on land adjacent to my home and subsequently rendered my life miserable as a result of loud noise nuisance, I hurried home to telephone the police.
"Imagine my surprise and my horror when I was informed by the police that, in fact, it was the council itself that had ordered the removal of thee obstacles and that, in short, the council had invited the travellers to occupy this land and, indeed, had gone out of their way to assist their settlement."
Ms Wyatt said that a series of Cornwall Council's decisions, including the siting of the new waste transfer station, had made her home unsaleable.
Other residents, she said, were too afraid to speak out.
Walker, David Rowland, from Praze, was also shocked to see the travellers camped so close to historic Carn Brea.
He said: "As if the council and the police would facilitate the illegal occupation of a site adjacent to a local beauty spot by clearing and widening what was a pedestrian pathway to allow caravans and trucks access via a path used by children on bicycles, horse riders and older people like myself enjoying a quiet walk around the Carn?
"As for the people who live in the nearby houses at Druids Lodge it would seem the council don't give two figs for them what with the industrial estate and SITA's beautiful recycling centre being recently plonked on their doorstep.
"Still there can't be that many of them so who cares as long as the travellers are happy?"
Carn Brea Parish Council confirmed to the West Briton that it had received numerous complaints from parishioners about the siting of the travellers.
A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: "The council is aware of the new location of the group of travellers and worked in cooperation with the police to provide urgently a temporary site to resolve the encampment at Carn Brea.
"We will be looking to move the group from their current location at the earliest reasonable time."
