A group of travellers arrived in the area last week and parked up on land owned by urban regeneration company Riverside Inverclyde (RI), right next to newly-built industrial units at Kelburn Park.

Now the nine caravans have gone, leaving behind dog excrement, empty gas cannisters, bags of rubbish, lumps of Tarmac, burst duvets and other assorted rubbish.

Port Glasgow councillor Jim MacLeod is fuming at the mess which has been dumped.

He says the travellers should be pursued for the cost of cleaning up yet another mess, arguing that they are likely to return to the area in the future and could be pursued at that stage.

Cllr MacLeod said: “We can’t have one rule for them and another for everyone else.

“I am a great believer in equality and fairness, but it has to work both ways.

“Other people would be fined or given stricter punishments if they dumped waste in this wanton fashion.

“I don’t accept that we can’t trace these people.

“We should be taking note of their registration numbers and identifying them when they return.

“We have only one police force in Scotland, so it should also be possible for their vehicles to be traced anywhere they go in the country.” Illegal traveller camps have become a recurring problem in Inverclyde in recent years.

Councillor MacLeod believes residents in the area could help to combat the problem by not giving any work to travellers.

He added: “The fact that bits of tarmac have been dumped indicates they were doing driveway work in Inverclyde.

“In the summer, we get garden rubbish left behind.” “The public purse should not have to pay for these repeated clean-up operations.” A spokesman for Riverside Inverclyde said: “We will get the land cleaned up as soon as possible.” Kelburn business park is the most easterly enterprise development area within Inverclyde and has been hailed as having ‘huge potential’ to attract inward investment and create fresh employment for the area.

But fears have been expressed that repeated visits by travellers could discourage companies from moving in.