Council admits to failings over sites - Devon

From Ivybridge Today

A TRAVELLER looks set to stay on an illegal encampment after the county and district councils admitted that it would be a long process before anything could be done.

Mr Monk has been living illegally in a truck parked on a highways verge by a junction next to the main road at Leighmoor Cross, in between Modbury and California Cross, since September 2010.

At the Modbury Parish Council AGM on Monday evening, Mr Monk attended along with Devon county councillor for Yealmpton division William Mumford, Devon’s Gypsy and Travellers liaison officer Sabrina Thomas, South Hams Council development management officer Malcolm Elliott and Police Inspector Andy Tomlinson.

Cllr Mumford gave a background of the events so far, stating that the land Mr Monk is currently living on illegally is Devon County Council land, but it is the responsibility of South Hams Council to find Travellers/Gypsies alternative encampments with suitable provisions.

Cllr Mumford said that if they went ahead and evicted Mr Monk, there is no reason why he could not move another 100 yards down the road if no suitable encampment was available, and the process would begin all over again at a great cost to public money.

Cllr Mumford said: ‘I admit that discussions between ourselves and South Hams Council should have begun earlier, but they are currently under way.

‘The dialogue has begun to find a long-term solution, and it will be a long-term process.’

Mr Elliott emphasised the difficulty in finding suitable sites in the region for Travellers/Gypsies.

He said: ‘We need to find willing land owners to offer their land as a site, and it has to be in an acceptable place – with local provisions. There is no short-term fixture.

A member of the public asked Mr Monk if his reasons for moving to Leighmoor Cross was as a protest?

Mr Monk said: ‘I used to live at the Marley Head site near South Brent, but moved off due to eviction reasons. I am not living at Leighmoor Cross in protest. I have a son in this area and I work in this area. I don’t like living illegally, I have had the windows of my truck smashed and my dog was very ill over the winter, but I am only there because I have nowhere else to go.’

Further questions were raised from the floor that if they set up a residential caravan on their own land that planning permission would have to be granted.
The next issue raised from the floor related to Mr Monk’s truck, which he lives in. A member of the public said: ‘The truck is surely in multiple infringement of DVLA rules. It is untaxed, unlicensed and uninsured. It is obstructing a junction and there are regularly visitors who park their cars on the road as a further obstruction.’

Police Inspector Tomlinson said: ‘We have looked at the offences and we reported them to the DVLA at an early stage. In terms of the insurance issue, there is a debate as to whether it is a vehicle or not? Our powers to seize vehicles are used very rarely and in terms of the vehicle being unlicensed it does not apply in this case as the vehicle is not used on the road.’

Mr Monk said: ‘When I first moved onto Leighmoor Cross the Police attended within hours saying I was not obstructing the junction.

‘I was visited by the Value Ordnance Authority in September last year, who declared my truck as a dwelling and not a vehicle. I have since been paying council tax.’ To which a member of the public said: ‘If it is a dwelling surely it requires planning permission?’

Cllr Mumford said: ‘This is not an open-ended situation, but we don’t know how long it will take. The fundamental issue is to find alternative sites for Travellers and Gypsies.’

Modbury parish councillor David Rickman asked Mr Elliott when it became South Hams Council’s responsibility to deliver the suitable sites.

Mr Elliott said it was around 2006, to which Cllr Rickman asked how many sites the council had found during that time.

Mr Elliott said: ‘We are currently looking at a number of sites but we have not found any yet.’

The Leighmoor Cross issue has been heightened by the news earlier this month that Dartmoor National Park, the planning authority for the site at Marley Head in South Brent, is applying for an injunction at the High Court in Bristol on April 19 to remove Travellers camping there illegally.