Children are fighting “running battles” with Travellers who are persistently returning to a site in Dundee.
Travellers have occupied a site at Jack Martin Way, just off the A90 to the north of Fintry despite regularly being moved on by the council.
Residents are losing patience with the groups, who constantly leave a wake of rubbish and refuse behind them.
It is thought to cost the council thousands of pounds to clean up after the Travellers.
The local authority says it has begun legal action to move them on.
One Fintry resident, who did not wish to be identified for fear of retribution, told The Courier the Travellers were fly-tipping and creating a human health hazard.
“They use bushes near their camp site as a toilet and whenever they leave it is full of human faeces and loo roll.
“It is disgusting and has serious human health implications, but that is only some of the mess that they leave behind.
“I’ve seen them fly-tipping their waste in broad daylight things that anyone else would get called up on.”
Now tensions are growing between the Travellers and local children.
The Fintry resident continued: “Children from the neighbourhood have also begun baiting and confronting them. It is almost like they are fighting running battles sometimes.
“The council are doing a good job of moving them on but as soon as one group leave another arrives. They just cut through the locks and park up.”
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “The council has started legal action.”
The legal action against the Jack Martin Way Travellers follows revelations that the special Dundee City Council Traveller site at Balmuir Wood went unused earlier this month while two separate groups of Travellers set up illegally elsewhere in Dundee.
The council said it has invested heavily in the Balmuir Wood site and that they work to encourage all Travellers to use the area.
It says it also has several measures in place to discourage the use of illegal sites including gates, barriers and boulders.