Pickles pledges new planning powers to stop unauthorised travellers

The new powers would enable councils to "literally stop caravans in their tracks", Pickles told delegates the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham.

"New instant stop notices will allow councils to issue unlimited fines for those who ignore planning rules and defy the law. We will stand by those who play by the rules and use the full force of the law against those who break them," Pickles said.

Pickles said that "drawn out cases like Dale Farm have brought the legal system into disrepute" and that episodes where travellers move into a piece of land over a weekend and it takes years for the council to remove them "give the whole travelling community a bad name and fuels community tensions".

Pickles also said that the Tories were committed to protecting the green belt. "There has been a lot of press speculation in recent weeks on the green belt. Protecting the character of the countryside is stamped deep into the heart of Conservativism and I want to be absolutely clear - the green belt plays vital role in stopping urban sprawl - and we will protect it," he said.

Recent reports had suggested that Chancellor George Osborne wanted to simplify rules allowing developers to build on the green belt where an identical area of land is designated as green belt in place of the lost land. New planning minister Nick Boles has subsequently said that green belt land is only safe "for now".