Penzance town council has given its backing to the travellers who have been illegally camped on Cornwall county council land at Tredavoe, Newlyn.
At Monday's town council meeting councillors agreed to send a letter to the county council asking them to pull back from evicting the travellers and consider whether the site at Tredavoe was suitable for a travellers' site. A number of travellers who have been on the site for the past 18 months and who face eviction next week (October 7), pleaded their case at the town council.
They told councillors about, and showed them, photographs of the improvements they had carried out to turn the site from a dump into productive land where they grow vegetables and where flora and fauna has now returned.
Councillor Joby Akira told the meeting that he had lived briefly at the site in question and he was now working with the travellers and he hoped matters could be progressed in a positive way.
Jack Dixon proposed that the travellers enter into a Section 106 Agreement to remain on the land as long as it remained sustainable and their presence was acceptable to the majority of nearby residents. He said if they broke the terms of the Agreement they could be evicted.
"I think the problem we have got here is one of timing. If we don't do something urgently the situation will get to the stage where we can't do anything about it. I am trying to do something tonight that will send a message that Penzance town council has a positive stand on this," he said.
Caroline White also asked councillors to support the travellers in their plans. She said people should not be judged on the way they looked, and said she was very aware that there were a lot of bad neighbours who lived in houses.
Tony Richings said that Cornwall county council had a duty to provide facilities for travellers, but they had not. He said he thought they should get some expert advice from a solicitor or perhaps a specialist travellers advisor.
Jack Aitken said it was obvious that the travellers took a tremendous pride in what they had done on the site. He said that whilst he supported other people's lifestyles, he could not vote on the matter because he did not know enough about what had gone on.
Arthur Edwards said that whilst he was not opposed to travellers, the whole thing came down to a matter of planning.
He said that years ago the county council was asked to find gypsy caravan sites. Now times had moved on and they were called travellers, but still they were not being looked after.
However, he said the site at Tredavoe was outside Newlyn and as such was classed as open countryside, and countryside was precious and had to be protected. He said they must abide by planning laws and not flaunt them.
Mr Edwards said that there were many people concerned about what was going on on the site.
"If things are done properly and negotiated properly and if it is found to be the right site I would support it, but at the moment I have to stand firm and uphold the planning laws," he added.
Dennis Axford said he was not going to join the group that leapt before thinking which he felt the county council and Penwith district council had both done. He felt that all parties should get together to sort the matter out.
The letter from the town council to the county council asks them to draw back from imminent eviction proceedings, and in the light of the lack of sites in the county, to consider the suitability of the site at Tredavoe to be used by the travellers for a specific period.
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