AN illegal gipsy site has grown by more than 60 caravans in the last couple of days, leaving residents "terrified".

Local man Harry Barlow is outraged the gipsies have moved on to the old LG site in Coedkernew.

He said: "If the council don't do something soon then Newport will soon be the gipsy capital of Britain.

"They already seem to realise we are a soft touch and more of them are coming every day.

"From three or four it has gone up steadily and there are120 there now."

The gipsies first moved on to the LG site in May and at the same time another group set up an illegal camp on Peterstone Common.

Mr Barlow said: "The council should have issued them with a notice to move on as soon as they got there, not waited until so many came that people are scared to walk around their own neighbourhood.

"We have human rights too, not just the gipsies."

Councillor Bill Pursey said residents of his Marshfield Ward feel Newport Council has let them down.

He said: "One elderly resident who has been recently widowed is convinced they are going to move on to land at the back of her house. She is terrified of them and doesn't want to leave her home.

"I wouldn't wish this on any ward. I know other places have a gipsy problem but none of them have anything as bad as this.

"I want the government to make it a criminal rather than a civil offence to trespass."

The gipsies who set up an illegal camp near Newport's flagship Velodrome on Tuesday night will be issued with a notice to vacate the site in the next two days.

A Newport city council spokesman said health and safety checks must first be carried out to ensure no harm will come to the gipsies if they are forced to move.

Once the notice has been issued, the gipsies will be taken to court if they have not moved from the site by Monday.

A Newport city council spokesman said: "We are doing all we can under the Highways Act to move the gipsies. We served them with notice to leave the site as soon as we could and this gave a month to move on. They should be gone by July and if not we will take further action."