Great Yarmouth van dwellers targeted

Burgh Castle 1818

Self-employed Richard Thorne amd his family live a simple lifestyle near Burgh Castle, Great Yarmouth — they recycle everything, grow their own vegetables and �kill for the table�. Their back-to-basics existence was not bothering anyone, but now they have been given a year to leave their own patch of land neatr a nature reserve. The right wing, anti-green Borough Council sent Mr Thorne an eviction notice three years ago, and a recent public enquiry confirmed the eviction order.

Mr Thorne, who sells gas bottles locally and runs a smallholding at the site producing fruit and vegetables for home and sale, said he was angered by the borough council’s insistence to move them on, saying policy prevented them from living in caravans on their own land. He needs help and support to appeal against the ruling to the Secretary of State.

He said the saga was kicked off by a neighbour who complained to the borough council that the family did not have permission to live on their agricultural land where they were tending plants and animals.

Officials investigated and issued an enforcement notice which leukaemia sufferer Mr Thorne hoped to overturn. Inspector Neil Roberts said that for the appeal to succeed Mr Thorne had to prove there was a need to live on the site, where he also keeps horses and security is an issue, for agricultural reasons.

This week Mr Thorne said he was running out of options but was reluctant to let go of the life he had built up in the village where his young children go to school.

Mr Thorne said he had moved the caravans to the back of the plot but re-sited them again after he was burgled. He added the family drew no benefits and only wanted to live a simple �hippy� life on their own land.

Adding to his frustration was the fact they could keep the caravans but not live in them.

�We are family orientated. I do not read and write but I think it is a big thing for my children. We had six moves before we came her and now we are settled. I do not want to build a home here and make a lot of money I just want to carry on as we are.�

Insp Roberts said that under planning policy he had to consider the needs of the enterprise not the personal preferences or circumstances of the individuals.

Although Mr Thorne said his illness made him �unemployable� and the lifestyle benefited his partner and 20-year-old son who both suffer depression, Mr Roberts said he could not give personal circumstances great weight.

However he did add the council had taken �a somewhat harsh� approach and extended the compliance period from six weeks to 12 months.
Despite losing the appeal – the climax of a saga which stretches back three years – the family say they want to continue living on nature’s doorstep in the two-acre plot which they own, and which is their workplace and home.

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