Labour is facing demands for a major clampdown on illegal Traveller sites scarring the countryside after the number of caravans parked in unauthorised camps rose by a fifth in a year.

Ministers have been accused of a 'soft-touch approach' after official statistics showed 4,464 mobile homes parked on land without planning permission this summer, the most since 2013.

Of those, the vast majority (3,880) were parked on land legally owned by Travellers themselves, an increase of 677, or 21 per cent on the previous year, leading to claims from politicians that they are gaming the planning system.

It comes amid a slew of high-profile cases where Travellers have purchased land, often in leafy parts of the Home Counties, before swooping to lay tarmac and create pitches.

They have then sought planning permission retrospectively, forcing local authorities to kick them off an area already built over, in a frequently lengthy and costly process.

One such case near Guildford in Surrey saw a field concreted under the cover of darkness close to a community of families living in £3m homes in November.

In another a site was set up in Berkshire close to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston.

MPs are pressuring the government to make changes, including giving police the power to remove people from land that lacks planning permission, even if they own it. 

However, the response from ministers has been to explore collecting fewer statistics about illegal sites, under a consultation announced in November. Ministers have said it is up to local authorities to deal with issues under existing legislation.

Tory shadow communities secretary Sir James Cleverly told the Mail: 'Unauthorised Traveller camps are becoming more and more common under Labour thanks to their soft-touch approach, causing serious issues for local communities.

'The Government should be taking action, but things are so bad that Labour are instead trying to cover it up by stopping the publication of statistics on illegal sites and hiding the truth from the public because they can't bear scrutiny.'

The data compiled the Minister of Housing, Communities and Local Government and released in December showed that Basildon in Essex and Havering in outer east London had the most caravans on unauthorised sites.

They were followed by leafy Waverley in Surrey and Bromley on the south east edge of London.

Find out how many are near where you live below: 

In total the number of Traveller caravans in England hit 28,589, an increase of 1,152 (4 per cent) on the previous year. 

It also means the number has increased by more than 240 per cent since the data was first recorded nearly 50 years ago in 1979.

The last time there were more caravans on unauthorised sites was 2013, and the rise has not gone unnoticed.