POLICE were called to land near upmarket homes in Fair Oak after a mass invasion of the site by travellers last night.

According to residents, caravans started to pile into Blackberry Drive at about 6pm and four hours later there was still a tense stand-off with groups of homeowners plus gatherings of teenagers around the estate watching the caravan dwellers.

A police car was stationed at the entrance to Blackberry Drive and another vehicle was stationed in the adjoining Stoke Park Surgery monitoring the encampment.

Residents told how a car driver had earlier driven into Blackberry Drive and shouted at travellers who then kicked his car.

On Tuesday just six caravans were occupying a strip of land destined to house a £500,000 youth club and multi-use hall.

Last night other travellers started to pour on to that site and adjoining land. During the evening about 25 to 30 caravans had pulled on to the land. But by midnight, an Eastleigh police spokesman said the number of caravans had been reduced to 15.

She said officers were "discouraging" any more travellers from going on to the Blackberry Drive land.

She added: "It comes down to the landowner to get the relevant authority to get on with the eviction. That has been explained to the residents by the police."

One resident said: "There were more caravans tonight - they were just piling in when the police were called. There were about 26 - but some have since left. The travellers said there were 200 coming.

"It was the sheer weight of numbers that made people phone the police.

"We pleaded with them to get a car at the end of the road to stop the rest of them coming in."

No start has been made on the proposed youth centre and Eastleigh Council has confirmed that the land is still in the ownership of Fareham-based Persimmon Homes.

Another resident laid the blame for the invasion on the fact that the site looked like scrubland, claiming that if it had been landscaped it would not have attracted the travellers.

Managing director of Persimmon Homes (South Coast) Allen Smith told the Daily Echo today: "Immediately Persimmon was informed of the situation, we instructed a solicitor to act on our behalf to remove the travellers from the land. We confidently expect to secure a court order to evict the travellers by the end of next week.

"This land is designated as public open space within the development and is in the process of being adopted by the local authority."