THOUSANDS of pounds in taxpayers' money has been paid to gypsies following a council planning blunder.

The £7,250 payout has been branded "a disgrace" by residents who have fought a four-year battle to stop the development of a new travellers' site on green belt land at The Meadows in Nazeing.

The High Court ordered Epping Forest District Council to pay legal costs to Hestan Developments after the council wrongly applied for an injunction against them.

The injunction was to stop the company clearing trees from the site but the court ruled the council had wrongly "leapt to the conclusion that the defendants would be involved in unlawful development and had acted prematurely and without proper investigation."

Plans for 44 caravans at site were rejected by the district council in 2007, and a subsequent appeal was turned down by the planning inspector last year.

David Jarvis, 51, who's home in Allmains Close backs on to the site, has led opposition to the development on behalf of the residents of Bumbles Green.

He said: "With money so tight at the money we think it is a disgrace that this amount of money had been paid to these people, especially when you take into account the history of the site and the nuisance it has been to our community."

Lower Nazeing councillor Richard Bassett said the council was right to take action to protect residents' interests.

He added: "Hestan was involved in the application for gypsy use at the site and therefore we were suspicious about the works.

"They said they were clearing a bridleway but the scale of the works suggested it was a lot more than that, so we took action.

“They took us to court and said they were just clearing it to sell it. We found this very questionable, but the judge accepted it. We are very disappointed with the ruling."

He said the community supported the action taken, and that the council would “not hesitate” to do the same in any other area of the district.

He added: "Residents want to know that we will fight their corner over issues that concern them. That is democracy in action - unfortunately sometimes it comes at a price."