TRAVELLERS at Southend Lane could be the first in the country to test the Government's tough new guidelines on gipsy sites, after appealing against eviction.

The travellers have issued an 11th hour appeal against the council's bid to enforce a decision that should have seen them leave at the end of January.

An inspector gave the travellers temporary permission to stay until January when the council only had four pitches out of the 30 they needed.

Now the council has 29 pitches and says it will evict the gipsies at the end of the summer.

The Government's new Natio-

nal Policy Framework rips up decades of guidance and has brought in new rules covering traveller camps on greenbelt land, like Southend Lane.

A spokesman for the Forest of Dean District Council said: "We have received notification that an appeal of the enforcement notice has been submitted.

"We are now waiting to find out whether it will be heard as a public inquiry.

"The existence of the appeal means the council will be one of the first in the country to examine proposals, in light of the new policy framework, before an inspector."