Hut residents served council trespass order
BBCA group of families who put up temporary huts every summer at a beach in Cornwall have been told they are trespassing.
For decades members of the Sandways Campers Association have had a presence on the Rame peninsula beach with several generations handing down the tradition of camping there.
But Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council have refused to renew the campsite lease amid safety fears over rock falls and tidal flooding.
Both councils said: "The lease expired on 24 March 2024 and the association's right to occupy the beach expired at that point."
Both councils have previously told the Sandways Campers Association to "vacate the land immediately "due to the risks of immediate danger/death" from flooding and landslips.
The Sandways camping tradition started in 1936 when fishermen from Plymouth set up tents to stay in while they were working at sea. Their descendants still use the site each summer.
Julie Coombe said she had been visiting the campsite since she was a child.
She said: "We learned to fish here and we caught rabbits in the fields and my mum made rabbit stew.
"The material things don't matter when you're here, it's just nice to get away from the rat race."
Rebecca Lingard said she had been coming to her family's hut since she was two years old.
She said: "For the last 55 or 60 years they've been exactly as they are now.
"They don't change hands, they don't get rented out, they're used by the families themselves at the weekends and in the summer holidays.
"We want to work with the councils to come to a solution. We understand their concerns," she added.
Jon Kidd, chair of Maker with Rame Parish Council, said he was working with the association and the councils to try to reach a solution.
He said "Everyone was surprised that although the same council had given planning permission they were refusing the leases, it doesn't make sense - it's the same report and the same people.
"We are here to get people to talk to each other and understand each others points of view and come to an amicable agreement."
A petition has been launched by Katy Mabin calling on Cornwall Council to "work actively" to preserve the campsite and avoid issuing eviction notices.
In a joint statement, Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council confirmed the trustees of the Sandways Campsite Association had been given a 15-year lease from March 2009 to to erect tents for holiday use only.
Now that the lease had expired the two authorities said the association no longer has a right to occupy the beach.
The statement added: "In 2013, CC commissioned a report which identified risks in connection with the stability of the cliff next to the land.
"Leading up to March 2024, there were several landslides that caused rockfall to come down close to the tents.
"Letters and emails were sent by PCC between July and October 2024 asking members of the association to vacate the land immediately due to the risks of immediate danger/death to the occupants arising from the landslips and the flooding risks identified by the Environment Agency."
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