A LONGSTANDING dispute over the use of land at Dragon’s Corner at the entrance to Colliford Lake Park is back with Cornwall planners.
Martin Dykes, who took over ownership of the land back in 2004, has applied for permission to put two caravans with car parking there and for the retention of the existing shed and polytunnels at Dragon’s Corner adjacent to the entrance to Colliford Lake Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Mr Dykes, an ethnic Romany Gypsy by birth, first lived on the site in a tent in 2004. Since then there have been a number of planning battles, with two enforcement notices being served, about his right to live on the site where he grows his own food and keeps chickens, ducks and goats.
One of the main issues is the gypsy traveller status of Mr Dykes. When he first occupied the site in 2004 Cornwall Council acknowledged that he came within the definition of a gypsy traveller. Prior to that he had travelled for over 20 years mostly to festivals wherever he could earn money. He was living on the site in a caravan in 2015.
Mr Dykes is reported to have stopped travelling due to ill health and, in 2017, a planning inspector deemed that he no longer met the definition of a gypsy traveller for planning purposes.
The inspector’s letter said: ‘On the basis of the time that has elapsed since the appellant pursued a travelling lifestyle and his stated intention not to resume travelling, I consider that, notwithstanding past or current health issues, the appellant does not meet the definition of a gypsy traveller for planning purposes. My conclusion, to which I attach substantial weight, does not in any way affect the appellant’s gypsy status for other purposes and the stress that the appellant places on his gypsy heritage and birth right is not questioned.’Mr Dykes was found guilty at Bodmin Magistrates Court earlier this month of failing to restock trees that had been felled at the site in 2013, and the subject of an enforcement order in 2018: he was fined £400 and ordered to pay £1500 in costs.