Caravan residents at risk of losing homes make plea to find solution

A crunch meeting will be held on Monday

Residents who face losing their caravan homes on Dartmoor because of a breach of planning regulations by their landlord are pleading for all sides to get together and find a solution.

A crunch meeting will be held by Dartmoor National Park Authority on Monday to decide whether enforcement action will be taken to remove around 20 park homes at Devon Oaks caravan site near Horrabridge which have been in full residential use without the necessary planning consent.

Members of the close-knit community that has formed over the past five years say they are “angry” and “heartbroken” and not willing to leave the site without a fight.

They say they were sold their park homes next to the River Walkham, some at over £200,000, on the basis that they could live in them for 11 months of the year, which would be extended to 12 months, with a 35 year lease.

One resident Lynne Watts said they had bought the homes in good faith and wanted to be allowed to live in them peacefully in what was an “amazing community”.

“We are people who have worked all our lives and we have contributed to society and the wider area by paying council tax, the same as everyone else.,” she said.

“We have come here to live at what is the end of our lives, in varying degrees, and just want a quiet life and a beautiful place to live it. We have been made to feel incredibly vulnerable for something that is not our fault.

“It really could be sorted out quite simply by Dartmoor National Park Authority granting a change of use on the site from holiday to residential and putting a restriction on the number of homes. We need to all sit down and discuss it.”

Lynne said that there were nine homes on the site which had been allowed full residential use which therefore “set a precedent” at Devon Oaks. 

“We came here understanding one thing and find out we have something different,” she said. “We just want what we bought into, nothing more and I don’t think that is unreasonable.

“We do far less damage than a transient holiday park, people who come in and go out and don’t really care about an area and leave their debris behind. We look after it and we love it here.”

Karen Lewis, who moved to Devon Oaks after selling her house in Plymouth to her son so he could get on the property ladder, said she was very angry over the situation. 

“It’s heartbreaking really because as far as we were concerned, we could stay in our homes for 11 months of the year and were told it was very likely, well 99.9 per cent, that that would be extended to 12 months. I’m thinking now that maybe we should have done more due diligence.

“It’s been a very stressful time as my husband was diagnosed with cancer and what with this it has put a big strain on both of us. 

“I’m upset that Dartmoor National Park didn’t take action after the site was sold and work started on it that was not authorised. Now we may have to be out in six months but we have nowhere to go.”

Resident Kerry Fice said anything less than residential use on the site would not be feasible: “Where is the finance going to come if we have permission for holiday use for eight months of the year but have to move out for four months of the year. It is just not possible and to be quite honest if they knocked on the door and said ‘Mr Fice you need to move’ they would have to drag me out, I’m not doing it.”

The homeowners’ group chairman Chris Griffiths said the homes were their futures and they expected security. 

He said they were an innocent third party in a situation between the national park and the owner of Devon Oaks, Barton Park Homes, who he claimed had not engaged with the residents or the park authority.

“The stress has been so much to bear for people here who are law abiding citizens. These are our homes so we have no option to stay and fight our case,” he said.

“People are struggling with the implications of this, some are turning a blind eye and pretending it’s not happening, others are not sleeping and suffering with their mental and physical health.

“We understand the owner has had too many properties here and has had total disregard for planning rules. We understand that that sort of thing has to stop but we think our position here should be taken into account and we feel that has not been done by the park authority.”

Mr Griffiths claimed that the park authority had been aware of unauthorised activity at Devon Oaks for some time but had done nothing about it.

He said residents were considering putting in their own application for planning permission which would include environmental enhancements at Devon Oaks.

At a recent Dartmoor National Park planning meeting, members heard that despite a series of appeal decisions and court judgements, the authority had been unable to resolve the issue, with “no prospect’” of doing so without taking enforcement action.

They agreed to authorise their planning officers to enforce the rules “with heavy hearts” but a final meeting will be held with members and officers on Monday.

Member Michael Fife-Cook, who said he understood the strength of the caravan community having been born and brought up in one, called the situation “a disaster” that needed to be discussed with “humanity”.

The meeting on Monday would see if there was “room for negotiation”.

He said he believed enforcement action was triggered because DNPA was worried about the future of the site as parts of it looked like “a bombsite”.

But he said it was crazy that with the housing crisis at the present time, a solution could not be found to let these people stay in their homes.

Residents have also contacted their MP Rebecca Smith who said: “I’ve been keeping in touch to hear directly about their concerns and met with the Chair of the Devon Oaks Homeowners Association last week. I understand how worrying this situation must be for people living there, and it’s important that everyone affected feels their concerns are heard.

“Next week, I will be meeting with the chief executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority to discuss the issues raised and I am also in contact with West Devon Borough Council. I will continue working with all parties to help find a constructive way forward.”

The owners of Barton Park Homes have not yet responded to an invitation to comment.