THE developers who own the former Millendreath holiday village, near Looe, have served eviction notices on chalet tenants.

Espalier, which has a £50m investment plan to create a high class resort, told tenants by letter that  they have eight months in which to find somewhere else to live and must leave by the end of January 2013.

The company has also  informed the chalet lease-owners that the practice of sub-letting their premises must now stop and those who permanently occupy their own chalets must also cease to do so. They have been given 18 months notice to revert their chalets back to holiday occupancy only.

For the company, Rick Gibbs, director of The Millendreath Project, said the leases state that the chalets are only to be used for holiday purposes.

'We are aware that over a period of time due to the demise of the former holiday village, circumstances changed and permanent occupancy started to take place,' he said. 'But it has always been our plan that the chalets return to holiday homes to fit in with our overall vision for the area. 

'The usage of the chalets as permanent homes could lead to the perception that Millendreath has become "a cheap place to live", rather than a thriving holiday village. This is a huge investment and the right conditions have to be created for the development to move forward.

'We believe we are behaving extremely properly and responsibly.'

The eviction notices have angered and shocked many of the people living on the site and there are plans to form a Millendreath Residents Association to start fighting the action.

Tenant Paul Owen who is organising the association said: 'Most of us welcome Espalier's plans for the re-development of Millendreath, but we are also a close community and hopefully we will all be fighting together to keep our homes, whether we own them or not.

'I am as upset and worried as everyone else and I am determined to stand up and fight what I see as the eviction of a Cornish village.'

Chalet tenant Martin Thompson who has lived in Millendreath for three years said the eviction letter should have come from his landlord not the developers. 'I'm concerned they are trying to scare me and others into moving out,' he said.

'Many of us live here because we can't afford or find anywhere else. It will be hard for me as a single person to find somewhere else to live in the area. My elderly mother is in Hillcrest Nursing Home at Looe and I am concerned I will have to move away from her.'