A GROUP of travellers who set up camp in the Newport Stadium car park last week left the site over the weekend.

Newport Live, the charitable trust running the city’s sports and leisure centres, confirmed last week that the group gained access to the stadium car park late on Sunday September 25.

But yesterday the trust said the group had now vacated the area.

It came two months after Newport Live had to clean up more than 1,500 litres of rubbish left behind by another group at the Newport International Sports Village site in Spytty.

Speaking about the events in his ward, Lliswerry councillor Allan Morris said last week: “This is very annoying news. A lot of people are picking up the bill for these occurrences.

“In the background, everything will be done to speed up the moving on of the travellers as soon as possible.

“We need to look at access of these sites, the council spends a lot of money making places secure."

Newport Council’s plans for a permanent gipsy and traveller site in Ringland were given the go-ahead last month, despite hundreds of objections over access to the site.

Under the plans, a 4.78 hectare site on Hartridge Farm Road, in Ringland, will be used by traveller families already living in Newport on illegal or unsuitable sites.