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National
Kali Lindsay

Pensioner threatened with eviction from Plankey Mill home in Northumberland is given temporary reprieve

A Northumberland farmer facing bailiffs coming to his property has been given a 28-day reprieve from eviction.

Plankey Mill farmer Walter Renwick, 68, has been embroiled in a battle with the landowners to stay at the property where he was born and has been in his family for three generations.

Walter was served with an eviction notice and bailiffs were due to arrive at his property, near Hexham, on July 11 but that has now been postponed after the pensioner took his fight to Carlisle County Court.

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But the pensioner is still expected to face eviction next month - though a date has not yet been set.

The Jesuits in Britain, who own the land, say the original lease was legally held by Walter's father and after his death they extend the lease to allow Walter time to find a new home. The church says the last lease extension ran out in 2021 and was granted a court order to have the farmer evicted from his home.

Campaigner and friend Jeremy Burke, from Kenton, said: "We are building a case now. We really, really think we have strong evidence this has been a disgrace and miscarriage of justice.

"Walter's father and grandfather, we believe, have been on that land since 1928. They can't take his land from him and then expect him to fit into society - it is morally wrong."

Walter Renwick, who is facing eviction from his farm in Plankey Mill in Northumberland (Iain Buist/Newcastle Chronicle)

The Jesuits said many people denouncing the repossession have based their objections on the fact Walter has been running a paid-for campsite on fields adjacent to the property. They said the campsite was never allowed under the terms of the lease, and did not have planning permission from the local authority but they never took action on this point.

But over a number of years, the Jesuits say they have received complaints from both the local council and the National Trust, who own an adjacent property, about the "unsocial behaviour of several campers, especially during the pandemic in 2020."

Northumberland County Council bosses said they received a complaint in 2020 regarding an unauthorised campsite on Plankey Mill Farm but because it was more than 10 years old it did not require planning permission.

Jeremy said: "Walter has a campsite for two or three months of the year to live off for the rest of the year.

"Haydon Bridge is a little area. Everyone who comes to Plankey Mill stops off at Haydon Bridge first for provisions, they survive the six weeks holiday because of Plankey Mill. It is a community, it is not just one man, it is a community.

"It is our heritage. We are from here. I have travelled there since I was six or seven years of age and I'm 52.

"I took my kids there and I want to take my grandkids there."

A spokesman for the The Jesuits in Britain said: "We can confirm that following a legal hearing earlier this week, the repossession proceedings for the Plankey Mill property will now take place in early August."

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