At a meeting on Wednesday evening West Berkshire Council turned down the application by the traveller families on a field in Pangbourne.

The Pangbourne Hill site is a local beauty spot renowned for the riverbank location that inspired the book Wind in the Willows.

The travellers may face eviction following the council's decision.

At a packed public meeting in a school hall in Tilehurst a series of objections were laid out by local residents who said the character of the area had been changed by the arrivals.

Before the meeting a petition had been submitted to the council with 796 signatures as well as 254 letters of objection.

Applause broke out in the packed school gym as the committee voted unanimously against the application.