A group of travellers have transformed a wildlife hotspot into an illegal camp as a four-acre Essex site is taken over on the Bank Holiday weekend.
On Friday night, approximately 30 diggers, cars and vans ploughed their way onto the greenbelt in the heart of the quaint Essex hamlet of Willow's Green to commence the covert overnight operation.
A group of men worked overnight to rip up the previously untouched land to prepare it for tarmac, horrifying local residents as they awoke on Saturday morning.
The villagers' suspicions were raised ahead of the Friday night rampage, which were subsequently brought to Uttlesford District Council in the hope any upcoming threat would be firmly nipped in the bud.
Nevertheless, the local authority disappointed the villagers and insisted such a move extended beyond its power to act.
"The council was warned this was on the cards but just sat back and waited for it to happen," one man told the Daily Mail.
"The field was swamped with vehicles, noise and lights all through the night. No doubt by the time the council reopens on Tuesday there will be a fully-fledged caravan park opposite our homes."
The affected land is home for a number of precious species across the British countryside, with its residents including rare albino fallow deer and protected great crested newts.
The esteemed parish hosts the prestigious independent school attended by Oliver Cromwell's sons
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A local council insider said a land grab could be in the works to carry in thousands of tonnes of hardcore to the land for a mobile home park.
"We understand that someone from within the travelling community has been trying to arrange the delivery of thousands of tonnes of hardcore to the site this," an council insider said.
Nervous residents requested the council impose an Article Four Directive on the land after catching wind of the travellers' scheme to descend on the pristine plot.
Such a ruling prohibits standard and usually permitted types of development, such as the construction of fences.
Meanwhile, more panicked groups argued the case for an emergency injunction, making any development a criminal offence.
But their efforts were to no avail, as the local authority claimed they could not take any preventative action before any unauthorised works were carried out.
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The four-acre plot is home to protected British wildlife
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As a result, the council has been slated for its lack of activity before the council locked its doors on Friday – offering an extended opportunity for travellers to take advantage of the Bank Holiday weekend.
"'It is very frightening and we do not know what to do, it was a complete shock and we need to hear of some action from Uttlesford Council," another resident told the paper.
She added the road had been blockaded by six lorries filled to the brim with rubble and pallets – and had now been joined by bulldozers and more diggers by the morning.
Over Easter, travellers brought in bulldozers and ripped up green belt land over in Hertfordshire "in the hope the local council will be too slow to react".
Hertfordshire locals, just off the cusp of the Chiltern Hills, claimed they had been subjected to "violent abuse and threats" hurled at them by a "whole load of travellers" first making their arrivals on Thursday night.
They believe the group of travellers took advantage of the long weekend over Easter in the hope Dacorum Borough Council would be slower to respond to the land grab.
An Uttlesford Council spokesman said on Thursday: "We are aware of local concerns regarding the land, however, at this stage no breach of planning control has occurred. The site is not subject to an injunction or Article 4 Direction.
"Planning enforcement is a reactive service - this means the council can only take formal action once a breach has taken place. It cannot act before a breach has occurred.
"Should unauthorised development occur, we will respond in accordance with our planning enforcement plan."