ANGER OVER FOREST CAMP FOR NEW AGE TRAVELLERS - Devon

From the Express

CONTROVERSIAL plans have been unveiled to create Britain’s first official New Age Traveller site by legalising a squalid encampment in a much-loved beauty spot.

In a move which has angered many residents, councillors decided to build a large new woodland site ­instead of creating pitches where the Travellers already live.

If it goes ahead the beauty spot, which attracts more than 300,000 visitors a year, will be permanent home to 15 Traveller families.

The two-acre site in Haldon Forest and Ridge, Devon, would have concrete pitches, amenity buildings, a health centre, a play area for children, parking for visitors and a new road.

In 2001 the Travellers set up a make-shift camp in a picnic area of the forest, which is an Area of Great Landscape Value and a Site of Special Scientific ­Interest. Despite public concern, they were never moved on by the county and district councils.

The site, which has no running water and no electricity or sanitation, houses over 25 families at present.

Dudley Swain, the chairman of the ­parish council in nearby Dunchideock, said: “This is only happening now because Teignbridge have bid for, and got, £1.15million in grant aid for a Gypsy and Traveller site, otherwise they would not be doing anything about this.

“The existing site is so polluted that this money probably won’t even cover the cost of decontamination and ­restoration, let alone connect up ­utilities and construct anything on the new site next door. We all accept that different people have different lifestyles, what I’m saying is you couldn’t get a more unsuitable location than this forest.”

The lack of enforcement over the past 10 years has generated concern about more travellers setting up ­illegal camps around the planned ­authorised site.

Former prison governor and chairman of Ashton Parish Council, John May said: “Teignbridge Council has a very poor record of local enforcement and there is a worry that not only will we see overspill and ‘Haldon 2’ emerging but that many will see this as a green light to do the same thing. In effect, it rewards those who break the rules and we know that Teignbridge has been unable to get a written agreement with Devon County Council that it will evict any Travellers who settle on the surrounding land.”

The Government grant has to be spent before March 2015 or be returned. Teign Housing, a social housing ­provider with more than 3,600 homes in the South-west, has put forward a ­proposal to ­construct and manage the authorised site and believes it can complete the project in time.

The £100,000 cost of the application is to be underwritten by both Teignbridge and Devon County Council, which are paying a third of the costs with Teign Housing.

Howard Milton, chairman of Kenn Parish Council, said: “The Travellers live in our parish and the parish council supports this proposal.

“We have an opportunity to regenerate the existing site, provide low-impact, environmentally friendly homes for the travellers, make sure the area is pleasant and available to the local communities and we can achieve all this by using Government money. What are the alternatives? This is a unique scheme which is socially, financially, politically and environmentally the right way forward.”

Speaking to a meeting of local parish representatives, a Teignbridge District Council spokesman said: “This will be the first Traveller site of its kind in the country and while that presents its own challenges, it is also exciting.

“Their requirements are different from what one would normally see at a Gypsy site. They don’t want communal meeting and dining buildings, they want to live in individual family units spread through the forest, and there is much greater emphasis on environmental issues.”

The travellers at the camp told the Sunday Express they did not want an official site and wanted to be left alone, however. One Traveller, Mark, said: “We have survived here for 10 years being self-sufficient and don’t want interference. We just want to be left alone in the ­forest with our community looking after itself.”

Teignbridge District Council spokesman said: “As with every other authority, Teignbridge has a clear need to supply Gypsy and Traveller pitches so it can meet the needs of those individual groups. ”