Alarm bells began ringing among nearby residents two weeks ago when caravans appeared on land east of Fordelhill, near the Five Roads roundabout, and materials were seen being delivered.

They feared a repetition of the events of last year, when travellers established a site without planning permission and were heavily fined for breaching interim interdicts.

The site, now occupied by six families, sparked further controversy when it was later given retrospective planning permission.

Having been accused of 'dragging its feet' over the issue, this time round Fife Council wasted no time in serving stop and enforcement notices on the landowner and the occupants of the two caravans, which have since been moved from the site.

The council also served an interim interdict on a third traveller, whose case was further continued this week when he failed to turn up at court.

The stop notice, which took effect from last Friday, required that all work on the site stopped, while the enforcement notice requires the field to be re-instated to its original condition within two months.

Chair of the north east Fife area committee, Councillor Andrew Arbuckle — whose casting vote led to retrospective planning permission being granted for the Fordelhill site — confirmed that the piece of land was now deserted, though there was some evidence of work having been carried out there.

He said: "The council has taken robust action and I'm pleased to see it has been effective.

"Those who criticised the council previously should realise the limitations within the legislation.

"The council is doing everything it possibly can."