FED-UP councillors fear Thurrock is becoming a “soft touch” for travellers after figures showed the number of unlawful encampments in the borough has rocketed in the past two years.

Essex County Traveller Unit (ECTU) has collected data to show there were only 21 unlawful encampments in Thurrock in 2013/14. That number has risen fourfold to 84 in 2014/15.

The numbers also showed more unauthorised encampments have been set up in Thurrock since April this year than for the whole of 2013/14, with 31 in the last four months over 21 for the whole of 2013.

Now councillors have called on police and Thurrock Council to take more action following the unsavoury scenes at Belhus Park last month when more than 70 traveller caravans descended on the park.

Rob Gledhill, leader of Thurrock’s Conservative group, said: “This is making a mockery of current laws, taking up valuable time of both police and the council, costing money to clear up and making residents feel Thurrock is a soft touch.

“Relying on calls to change the law is not enough. We need to be taking action now to protect our public places; after all it is the taxpayers who will be picking up the bill until we act.”

Ukip’s Tim Aker, also an MEP for the East of England, added: “It is wrong that a small minority persists to trespass and form unauthorized sites. The clear-up afterwards has to be paid for by the taxpayers. Enough is enough.

“This month alone we have seen three children’s recreation grounds in Thurrock taken over by unauthorised traveller pitches. These could become unsafe for children to use until they are cleared and cleaned.”

A spokesman for the council said: “With the ECTU, we have a working target to get unauthorised encampments moved within ten working days and the ECTU has met this in almost every single incident it has dealt with in Thurrock.

“We also have an excellent joint approach with the police with an agreed protocol and we have far more permanent pitches than many of our neighbours across Essex. It would help if we all played an equal part in supporting the travelling community.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Early communication between partners is important.

It’s disappointing this vital element seems to have been less effective than it should be in recent incidents.”