DALE Farm residents won a last-gasp injunction preventing Basildon Council from clearing structures from the site pending a further court hearing on Friday.

Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart granted the order at London's High Court on the basis that there was a realistic apprehension that the measures to be taken - while genuinely believed in by the council - "may go further" than the terms of the enforcement notices.

He said: "Having regard to the fact there is no fixed date for starting these - but they are imminent - I do not see that any serious injustice will be caused if the actual implementation of any measures will not take place before the end of this week."

There were cheers inside the site as residents and supporters were told the news.

Resident Mary Slattery said: "We are delighted. Every day is a bonus. We've got one last chance and we're not going to give up - this gives us so much hope."

There was a party-like atmosphere as music began to play and travellers taunted bailiffs from the barricade,s singing: "We're not going to go."

When they heard about the injunction, supporters who had chained themselves to the barriers began to unlock themselves.

Emma, 18, who had been chained to the main gate by her neck, said: "We can win this."

Supporter Jake Fulton said: "This is really great news but this isn't over yet.

"It makes us feel we have a really good shot at defending travellers in a way that has never happened before."

The order covers physical structures including cars and caravans and also prevents the cutting off of any utilities unless they pose a danger "to life and limb".

The judge directed that Basildon should serve a schedule on the residents by noon tomorrow specifying what enforcement measures were proposed on a plot-by-plot basis with the residents responding by noon on Thursday.

He said he would consider whether there were any remaining issues justifying a further extension of the injunction at 11.30am on Friday.

Earlier in the day, traveller Mary Flynn lost her appeal court bid to challenge her eviction from Dale Farm.

Mrs Flynn, 72, suffers breathing problems and uses an electric nebuliser and has been a crucial protagonist in the bid to stop the clearance.

Her counsel, Stephen Cottle, said today that she was "too frail" to be evicted, and "dispossessing" her of her land would be "disproportionate" under human rights laws.

But Lord Justice Pill rejected the arguments. He dismissed Mrs Flynn's application for permission to appeal against a High Court judge's refusal last month to grant a temporary injunction to halt the evictions.