This story was updated to take account of the response of Gloucestershire County Council. The council's comments at the end of the story.

COUNTY Council chiefs on Tuesday won their court battle for an injunction to remove a group occupying the Wilderness Centre at Plump Hill.

However as the Review went to press the word from behind the barricades was that there had been an administrative hold up and the occupiers were safe for the day – although many of them viewed a circling helicopter with alarm. They also wondered who was paying for it!

The court had earlier cleared the way for bailiffs to move in on the site, take down barricades and oust 10 people they regard as 'squatters' at the empty former council-run outdoor education centre, axed in last year's austerity cuts.

The occupiers, who say they are merely taking care of the site and have a loose association with a public group, Friends of the Wilderness, which wants to take on the Centre as a community-run project, have been gardening and generally keeping the area tidy.

They also have a champion in Ruardean District Councillor Andrew Gardiner who said after the court order: "The Friends of the Wilderness have come to respect and value them.

"Further, the Forest communities have come to apprteciate the way they organise open days for gardening, baking, charcoal burning, farming, a visiting blacksmith, nature study and foraging.

"It is difficult to why the County Council are being vindictive, when their own custodianship of the Wilderness Centre has been an abject failure."

Future plans of the occupying group include a 'spring gathering' at the centre which would draw national support from the anti-capitalist movement – an event which the council is also trying to halt.

UPDATE: Gloucestershire County Council says it was granted an injunction to prevent the gathering taking place, not to remove the squatters.

The council has been granted a possession to remove them.

A spokeswoman said the helicopter seen hovering above the Wilderness was not connected with the council,

COUNCIL Director Andrew McCartney said: "We're pleased the court has found in our favour on all accounts, that includes an injunction preventing the planned Reclaim the Fields spring gathering from going ahead.

"We will now be working with the court bailiffs and the police to take the next steps and remove the squatters from the site.

"We hope that they will adhere to this order and leave the site peacefully as promised."