Site Sold for SAS Training and Survival School Amidst Local Controversy
A parcel of land, previously the subject of a protracted planning dispute involving actor Martin Clunes, has reportedly been sold and is slated for development into a training site for the SAS and a 'survival school.' This development follows a four-year struggle where New Age travelers, Theo Langton and Ruth McGill, successfully gained approval for a permanent site adjacent to Clunes's Dorset property.
The exact details of the transaction remain opaque, but reports suggest the land will now host specialized training operations. The "survival school" aspect, alongside the military connection, injects a new layer of complexity into the already contentious land use. The original planning battle centered on the definition of 'travelers' and the legitimacy of the mobile home structures on Langton and McGill's plot. Local council officers, in their deliberations, cited a demonstrable lack of suitable traveler sites within the area as a factor in their decision-making process.
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A History of Planning Disputes
The saga began with Clunes and his wife, producer Philippa Braithwaite, actively contesting the couple's right to establish a permanent base. Their objections, raised over several years, focused on whether Langton and McGill constituted genuine 'travelers' as defined by planning regulations, and the suitability of the woodland plot. Arguments presented by Clunes's legal team questioned the classification of their dwelling as a 'mobile home,' citing definitions that would require the structure to be divisible and transportable on a trailer.
Conversely, planning assessments, including one by officer Bob Burden, considered factors such as the couple's attendance at various West Country festivals, including Glastonbury and Boomtown, and their methods of waste management, such as the use of charcoal and sawdust for composting toilets. The council's inability to provide sufficient alternative sites for Gypsies and Travelers was also a recurring theme. The couple themselves have expressed a desire to formalize their settlement as a permanent family residential site, with aspirations for their grown children to potentially reside there as well.
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Background to the Land Use
Langton had reportedly moved from his family's country home years prior to embrace a more nomadic existence on the acre of woodland he owned. The property in question, located approximately 300 yards from Clunes's farmhouse, initially featured a mobile home, a touring caravan, and a mobile van. Plans indicated the intention to use an erected barn as a day-room, workshop, and storage facility. Despite objections concerning potential flooding risks at the site, the local authority eventually granted approval, a decision that Clunes and other objectors continued to contest.
