TRAVELLERS have moved their homes back on to the Dale Farm site.

Today the residents of the illegal site and their supporters opened the gates to allow eight caravans back on.

The caravans had all been moved to the yards of homes on the nearby legal site.

On Monday residents of Dale Farm in Essex won an 11th-hour court injunction preventing the clearance of 51 unauthorised plots until Friday.

The court injunction required Basildon Council to give a plot-by-plot breakdown of how they plan to clear Dale Farm in Essex.

But the authority wanted residents to stop blocking access to the site and to discourage non-travellers from protesting there.

Today the moved barricades blocking access to the site, allowing families to bring their trailers back on to their plots, and to allow access for emergency vehicles, but they said they would oppose any attempt at entry by bailiffs.

Resident Michelle McCarthy said: "With this court ruling we're finally hopeful that common sense will prevail, so we're moving our caravans back into Dale Farm.

"We're reasonable people and we urge the council to find a way that we can continue to live in peace as community.

"We're all working together to open the gates, and we're so grateful to our friends and supporters for helping us."

Basildon Council has said that if it succeeds in overturning the injunction at a court hearing on Friday, action to clear the site could restart within hours.

In that case, the travellers would also be liable for all costs incurred by the delay. The estimated cost of the total operation is £18 million.

Hannah Roberts, from campaign group Dale Farm Solidarity, said: "In their bloody-minded over-zealousness, the council are paying £1.2 million a day for police to sit in hotel rooms and drink coffee when they could be funding schools and hospitals and building their community."

Dale Farm residents and council bosses have been at loggerheads for the past 10 years over illegal development at the site.

The homes on one half of the six-acre site are legal, but structures on the other half were put in place against planning rules and the local authority wants them to be cleared.

Basildon Council leader Tony Ball said previously: "We have complied with the judge's order and provided the plot by plot schedule as requested.

"The injunction also places obligations on the travellers to discourage any further protest from non-Dale Farm residents, and to dismantle the barricades and any obstructions preventing access onto the site.

"We have made repeated pleas to the travellers to ensure health and safety is considered on site, and these measures would help enable a safer operation for all concerned.

"The council has complied with the law and the terms of the order. We now hope that the travellers do the same."