Moves to evict scores of families from the UK’s biggest illegal travellers’ site have been delayed as council officials hold talks with residents.

An estimated 200 residents and supporters barricaded themselves inside Dale Farm in Basildon, Essex, as bailiffs prepared to clear the former scrapyard.

The travellers recently lost a decade-long legal fight over unauthorised development on 51 plots on half of the six-acre site.

Protesters put up reinforced barricades and built a new wall, and some even chained themselves to obstacles in an attempt to keep the teams of bailiffs out using “peaceful resistance”.

The eviction operation has been temporarily put on hold while Basildon Council officers meet residents.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “The traveller representatives have requested a meeting with the council to discuss the site clearance and we hope that we will be able to encourage them to remove the barricades that are currently blocking emergency access to and from the site.

“We are committed to taking the time to get things right and ensure that the site clearance is carried out in a safe and lawful way.”