Latest news with #planningrow
The Sun
09-05-2025
- The Sun
Sycamore Gap thug ‘chopped down famous tree in bitter revenge battle after facing eviction from ramshackle home'
SYCAMORE GAP brute Daniel Graham chopped down the iconic tree when he was facing eviction from his ramshackle home in a bitter planning row. Neighbours had accused him of destroying the countryside after he turned a field into an 'illegal builder's yard' and plonked a static caravan in it. 11 11 11 The thug bullied and threatened planners and neighbours and was left seething with rage when the council rejected his application to live in the caravan in the shadow of Hadrian's Wall. And locals reckon he dreamt up a plan to take revenge by targeting the tree. One said: 'It's what everyone around here was saying and it makes perfect sense. 'He considered that caravan his permanent home and had asked the council to legally recognise that. 'When they refused the only way it could ever have ended for him was being evicted. 'He's a tree surgeon, he cuts trees down all the time – what better way, in his eyes, for him to take revenge?' Graham, 39, was today convicted of two counts of criminal damage alongside his former friend Adam Carruthers. He had moved into the static caravan in the village of Grinsdale, near Carlisle, Cumbria in 2016. In October 2022 he applied to Cumberland Council for permission to live there lawfully even though he had never sought planning permission. Neighbours objected and the local parish council said people felt threatened by his "dominant and oppressive behaviour'. His application was rejected in April, 2023, and five months later he chopped down the iconic tree together with Adam Carruthers, 32. He later appealed to the planning inspectorate in a last-gasp bid to avoid eviction, but on April 28, the day before his trial began, the appeal was rejected. He has been given six months to find somewhere else to live but he is soon likely to behind bars when he is sentenced on July 15. 11 11 11 Only child Graham, 39, grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria, in a family ripped apart by rows and tragedy. His parents Michael and Karen split up years ago and she moved out, leading to a permanent estrangement between her and her son. He remained close to his dad and they would go shooting and fishing together. But he was left heartbroken when his father committed suicide in 2021. That tragedy triggered yet another long-term family bust-up which erupted on the day of his funeral – between Graham and his gran Joan Graham, 85. A family friend said: 'They had this weird disagreement over who had found Michael. 'They both claimed to have been the one to do so. 'They were shouting at each other at the crematorium so it wasn't as if it was the end of the wake when they might have had a drink. 'The row was so bitter she later burnt all his photographs. 'Joan is scared to say anything publicly because she fears that he could be violent and might take revenge against her.' The pair haven't spoken since that day – other than to swap insults if they ever saw each other in the street. After his dad died, loner Graham had few friends and a dysfunctional relationship with an on-off girlfriend. He admitted in court that Carruthers was his only mate and said: "I don't go out, I don't do very much, you could say I'm antisocial, I don't have much time for people." Just days before his trial was due to begin last year, Graham posted a plea of innocence on his Facebook page. He said: 'I did not cut down the sycamore gap I did not do it I hope that the justice system sees what's true and clears my name this is the honest truth yes somebody borrowed my jeep meny (sic) people did I will led anyone anything but this is something I truly would not do it's my picture everywhere well here's a picture of the man with hidden face.' That was posted at 1.02pm on Sunday, December 1, and 90 minutes later paramedics and cops raced to his home due to a medical emergency after a pal found him seriously ill. He was rushed to hospital and was later said to be in a critical but stable condition. The incident delayed his trial at Newcastle alongside Carruthers until last month. Dad-of-two Carruthers was brought up by parents Terry and Christine in Wigton, Cumbria. Neighbours described him as an 'idiot' who got the sack from his first job as an apprentice at a local factory. Instead of going to college on a day release course he would spend the time doing up cars on the side. A neighbour said: "He had quite a good job as an apprentice but they let him go when they found out he was working on cars for people instead of going to college, "Since then he's drifted around and ended up doing ground works with this character he met. 'When he was younger he had this mobility scooter – which he obviously didn't need but which he used to ride around in the street.' 11 11 11
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Doc Martin star Martin Clunes insists 'hippie' neighbours are 'not travellers' amid acrimonious planning row near his country home
Actor Martin Clunes has insisted his 'hippie' neighbours are not travellers in the latest stage of an acrimonious planning row centering on land just 300 yards away from the £5 million farmhouse he shares with wife Phillipa Braithwaite. The Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly star has fought a long-running battle to try and stop New Age Travellers Theo Langton and Ruth McGill from turning their woodland plot and caravan into an official travellers site. The couple have lived in the 45ft by 16ft mobile home on a temporarily rolling licence near Beaminster, Dorset, for more than 20 years. They have applied for planning permission for continued use of land as a private residential traveller site for 'sole use of the applicants and family.' But Clunes has hit out at the pair for claiming they are travellers based on 'the way they dress' and 'going to certain types of music festivals.' The couple's plans include use of the erected barn as a dayroom, workshop and store, one mobile home, a touring caravan and a mobile van. Clunes had claimed that the current residence did not meet the definition of a mobile home - and described the neighbour's attempts to classify it as one was 'cynical' and 'dishonest.' A decision on the application that was due to be made at a council meeting last month was postponed after flooding fears were raised. Fresh representations have now been made by Clunes on the council's planning portal where he questions their legitimacy as travellers. The couple previously relied on evidence showing them as travelling to various festivals throughout the summer months in order to sustain their livelihood. Clunes wrote: '(They) cannot claim they are travellers because of the way they project themselves either by the way they dress, or living on a site without basic amenities or the company they keep, or because they travel to certain types of music festivals. 'It cannot be concluded that the applicants are persons of nomadic habit of life due to them visiting music and other festivals each year to sell items and help set them up.' Clunes added: 'The decision must rest on planning law and policy - not emotion or popularity of an applicant. 'The applicants are locally well-liked and they and their site may give the appearance of a New Age lifestyle, but that does not entitle them to special treatment as they do not meet the legal definition of a gypsy or traveller. 'The applicants travel to festivals as do many other people. They have a stall at festivals and sell items made by them. No evidence more than this is submitted for it to be able to be concluded that it supports their livelihood. 'Many stallholders travel from festival to festival and roadies set up the stage and equipment, all travelling each summer from festival to festival or fayre. 'They are not classed as travellers, New Age or otherwise. The applicants travel to Portugal and Spain by road each summer. So do many others who are not Travellers. 'It cannot be concluded that the applicants are persons of nomadic habit of life due to them visiting music and other festivals each year to sell items and help set them up. 'This would mean that many, if not all stallholders at such festivals as well as the roadies who travel with the festival organisers, retailers and bands would be classed as gypsies and travellers within the planning definition, which clearly is not the case.' Clunes added that from his view there were now only two ways forward - to refuse permission and consider enforcement, allowing time to relocate, or to grant a temporary permission. He argued this should only be if it was made clear it 'the applicants must actively seek an alternative site, starting now.' He added: 'The onus is on the applicants to comply with policy - not the council to make exceptions.' In his submission, Clunes added: 'There is evidence not only of a precedent being set but the beginnings of a New Age Traveller commune growing up on and around the application site. 'Friends of the applicants have bought the field opposite the Meerhay Manor, have applied for planning permission to start growing vegetables in large polytunnels and have applied to live on site in a shepherds hut. 'There is no doubt that if permanent planning permission is granted then others will copy the approach of the applicants to obtain a planning permission which will be difficult for the Council to resist. 'None of the conclusions to which the officers give weight to outweigh the harm identified or stand up to scrutiny. Further, the assessment of harm which is caused by the proposed development has been inadequately considered and is grossly understated.' Planning officers at Dorset Council had earlier recommended to grant approval for the proposal but the case was pulled from the agenda last month after a last-minute letter from Clunes' lawyers. A two-year legal battle has since ensued with the application again pulled from the agenda of a meeting last month where it had again been recommended for approval. Dorset Council said of the delay: 'This is because a matter has come to the attention of officers since the publication of the agenda which will require further consideration. 'The matter relates to surface water flooding and will need to be considered before the application can be reported to committee. 'The application will be reported back to committee as soon as possible.' In his report that was due to go to the committee, planning official Bob Burden said: 'The location is considered to be relatively sustainable and the proposal is acceptable in its design and general visual impact. 'There is not considered to be any significant harm to neighbouring residential amenity. 'There are no material considerations which would warrant refusal of this application.' The Clunes' bought 130-acre Meerhay Farm near Beaminster, Dorset, from Mr Langton's mother, the landscape gardener Georgia Langton, in 2007. The land at the heart of the planning row is around 300 yards from the £5m farmhouse where Clunes lives with wife Philippa Braithwaite.
