Illegally camped travellers in Richmond could be moved on faster, as the council plans to ask the High Court for more powers.

Current rules mean it can take up to three weeks to move people and caravans after they are set up, with the council needing to carry out welfare checks, apply for a court order and allow time for the travellers to move on of their own accord.

But the authority is seeking an injunction that would protect council land and allow encampments to be moved on immediately.

Cllr Martin Elengorn, cabinet member for environment, planning and sustainability, said: "In recent months we have seen a number of illegal traveller camps in our borough.

"Not only do the vehicles damage our parks and open spaces, but the community is deterred from using the parks. There is also occasional anti-social behaviour.

"When this happens communities ask the council and local police to remove the travellers swiftly. However, we have to work within the law and the current process is lengthy."

Council officers have previously been threatened when approaching unauthorised encampments, and a report seen by councillors who approved seeking the injunction linked illegal camps to dangerous driving of cars, quadbikes and motorbikes on council land, anti-social behaviour and fly tipping.

The last major incident in the borough happened on Ham Riverside Pitches in April, where 35 tonnes of fly tip were dumped, costing the council £15,000 to clear.

The injunction would cover all the council's parks, open spaces and roads, and would last initially for three months, but could be extended by up to three years.

As well as allowing a quicker removal of the encampments, it would stop them simply moving to a new piece of council land.

But London Gypsies and Travellers (LGT), an organisation that hopes to end discrimination against traveller communities, has criticised similar injunctions, which have been granted in Enfield, Croydon and Sutton.

Neighbouring Kingston also announced its intention to apply for one in September.

LGT published a response in September to the trend of London boroughs seeking such injunctions.

A statement reads: "LGT believes that borough-wide injunction orders do not offer a solution.

"Because of the lack of caravan site provision for Gypsies and Travellers, the injunctions simply push them to camp on the roadside in other areas.

"Across London, just 10 new pitches have been built on existing sites out of over 800 identified as needed in a study commissioned by the Greater London Authority in 2008.

"LGT is urging local authorities to support the alternative approach of negotiated stopping which has been proved to reduce the costs to councils and improve the lives of Traveller families.

"It is a more humane response that many local residents would be willing to support."

LGT has been contacted to ask whether it intends to write to Richmond Council urging it to change its decision.