A GYPSY settlement has been told by the Secretary of State they must vacate their green belt site in three years if an alternative plot cannot be found.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has upheld Mole Valley District Council's decision to bar families from settling permanently in River Lane, Leatherhead.
The cabinet member decided a permanent site would cause "substantial harm" to the green belt, and the need of the five families "clearly does not outweigh" those considerations.
Mr Pickles gave the district council an additional three years to find an alternative site, after which if nothing is found the families will be served with an eviction notice.
Susan King, who lives on the River Lane site, said: "It is absolutely crazy. We are fully integrated into the community now after being here for a decade."
The mother-of-four added: "The decision is slightly better than it could have been as we could have been served an eviction notice straight away but we have another three years.
"But by then we would have been here for 13 years and it all that time the council hasn't found us a site. There is nowhere else to go and we are just going round in circles."
A planning inspector gave the families leave to stay for four years back in 2007, after which the district council decided not to grant permanent permission for four caravan pitches.
A public inquiry was held a year later in 2012 to evaluate the council's decision, where planning inspector Antony Fussey compiled a report for Mr Pickles, who has now upheld the original verdict.
However Mr Pickles criticised the council for failing to find another site for the five families, despite examining 41 potentially alternative locations within the district since 2007.
The report said: "The Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that the proposals for permanent gypsy site would result in substantial harm to the green belt.
"Nevertheless, he concludes that, as there is a realistic likelihood that an alternative permanent site could be made available by the end of a reasonable temporary period, [he will] enable all five families to remain on the site for a further period of three years from the date of this decision."
A total of 21 children live on the site, the majority of which attend schools in Leatherhead, while two have special needs and one boy, aged 7, has cystic fibrous and brain damage.
