Hundreds of protesters, many of whom had camped overnight, clapped and cheered as vans and diggers left a field this morning in Sawbridgeworth, in East Hertfordshire.

Sawbridgeworth, East Hertfordshire was the latest area to be targeted by developers who arrived on Friday morning with huge lorries, fences going up and roads being blocked.

Residents of quaint Willows Green, in Essex , watched in horror as the travellers concreted over a field only hours after the local council closed on May 1.