More than 50 plots are illegally occupied on the site

The 400 Cottenham residents at a public meeting on Tuesday accused the council of failing to stop its expansion.

Rick Bristow, who is leading the protest, said the council had not looked after villagers' interests.

South Cambridgeshire District Council said since 1999 it had turned down two planning applications for the site only to have them overturned on appeal.

Mr Bristow, of Smithy Fen Residents' Association, who has lived opposite the site for six years, had collected 400 signatures on a protest petition before the public meeting.

He said the council had not looked after the villagers' human rights or looked after the planning issues properly.

Rick Bristow is spearheading the campaign of civil disobedience

South Cambridgeshire District Council said since 1999 it had turned down 14 planning applications for expansion of the travellers' site, which is about a mile from the heart of the commuter village near Cambridge.

Those decisions had all be overturned on appeal by planning inspectors.

South East Cambridgeshire MP James Paice said he obviously could not support illegal action but added he could understand the frustration of the villagers.

"These travellers have moved into the area and have more recently got planning consent not from the council who opposed it but from the Department of the Deputy Prime Minster's planning inspectorate who have held inquiries," he said.

A spokesman for the travellers said they paid for water, electricity and paid their poll tax.

"We do all that. What more do they want?" he asked.