A GROUP of gipsies flouting planning laws could have months to wait before a decision about their future is made.

A public inquiry, held at Bredon Village Hall to hear the Eckington travellers' appeal against an enforcement notice served on them by the council in June, came to an end yesterday after just two days.

Jill Collin, head of planning at Wychavon District Council, said it was now up to the planning inspector to make a decision, but that could be some months off.

"We are certainly not expecting anything before the end of November," she said.

The travellers, thought to be 50-strong, successfully blocked attempts to evict them by launching the appeal.

They are also expected to appeal against a planning application that was rejected by the council in August.

Sir Michael Spicer, MP for West Worcestershire (pictured), said he believed the case against the gipsies was very fairly put to them.

"If British justice is to mean anything at all, it must apply fairly to everyone," he said.

"You can't have one section of the community that can flout planning laws and one that can't - it would cause anarchy," he added.

But Dr Donald Kenrick, representing the gipsies, said at the beginning of the inquiry on Wednesday that they were prepared to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights if they were forced to move.

"They have to balance their human rights against the impact on the countryside and it is obvious which is more important," he said.

Eviction notices were served on the group when the first caravans moved on to a one-and-a-half-acre field near the B4080 at the end of May this year, gravelled over it, surrounded it with fences and installed water and electricity without planning permission.