A family of Travellers facing eviction claim they are being discriminated against by council leaders.

Greg Yates lives in a modern, well-kept cluster of mobile homes on land he owns with his wife Rhonda and daughter Amy. However, he has been told to leave by planning officials.

Mr Yates said: "The council is doing everything it can to force us out. We moved here because there is too much competition for too few spaces on travellers' sites.

"I own the land and there are no planning restrictions on it but the council told us we couldn't have permission to stay."

Mr Yates, 44, built the site, Clearwater in West Ashling, near Chichester, in 2001. He already owned the land and decided to move from a council-owned site nearby because he thought it was being poorly run.

He built four homes, for himself and his family, for his brother-in-law and his family, for his mother and father-in-law and for a friend.

Travellers have been encouraged to set up on privately owned land since 1994, when the then government revoked an obligation on councils to provide sites.

However, Mr Yates said in reality it was much harder to do and claimed: "Eighty per cent of planning applications are passed at the first instance but for travellers that figure is between five and ten per cent.

"Chichester District Council has spent about £200,000 fighting our case alone. It's bullying. Where do they want us to go? The side of the road?"

Mr Yates claims there is a waiting list for many sites and where sites are provided for travellers they are often poorly maintained.

He said: "In France, if you pull up on the roadside the police immediately come over and ask how many of you there are. Then they make sure you have water, electricity and toilet blocks. They also provide bins.

"One of the reasons people sometimes find rubbish after travellers have gone is because there are no waste facilities provided on the sites. Where do they expect the rubbish to go?"

In April, the Commission for Racial Equality launched a campaign to end discrimination against gipsies and travellers, describing it as the "last respectable form of racism".

Deputy chairwoman Sarah Spencer said: "It is still considered acceptable to put up No Travellers signs in pubs and shops and to make blatantly prejudiced remarks about gipsies and travellers.

"There are not enough sites and those that exist are often in polluted environments and far from public services.

"An estimated 3,000 to 4,500 extra pitches on public sites will be needed in the next three years."

She said planning permission was often denied, adding: "We want to see a fairer planning system, since, at present, the majority of planning applications from gypsies and travellers are rejected at the first stage. "The way a country treats its ethnic minority communities is a measure of its civilisation.

"As a Briton, I am ashamed of the way we treat gypsies and travellers. "

A council spokeswoman said: "We cannot comment on individual cases.

"We are aware of the extreme difficulties faced by travellers in terms of site provision and getting planning permission and we are focused on addressing this."