A couple facing legal action after moving onto land on the edge of a Yorkshire Dales village without planning permission say they just want to be left alone to live in peace.
James and Naomi Miller have fenced off a corner of a field outside Hudswell, near Richmond, and laid gravel and concrete.
A mobile home, a caravan and two sheds have been installed on the plot.
The couple, who have Romani heritage but say their families have lived in Skipton for five generations, purchased the land earlier this year and moved onto the site with their two adult sons.
Mr Miller, 53, said he was aware local residents thought he was building a traveller site on the field, which they have called Miller’s Meadow.
But he said: “There’s nobody else coming to live here — I wouldn’t destroy my home by allowing that.
“It’s just going to be for me, my wife and my children.”
Mr Miller said the family was keen to integrate with the community and invited local residents to come and speak to them.
“We’re very community-focused. I go to the community pub in the village on a Sunday for my lunch — I’ve even bought shares in the pub like everyone else.
“We just want to be left alone to live in peace.”
Mr Miller said he was “devastated” when he received correspondence from North Yorkshire Council about unauthorised work on the field.
The businessman, who runs a property company, said he understood he was allowed to lay gravel without planning permission, while the mobile home, caravan and sheds were temporary structures and could be moved.
“There’s no permanent structures — it’s all on wheels,” he said, adding that he would contest any enforcement action.
Mr Miller said it was not a case of his family “moving onto the site over a Bank Holiday”, adding that work has been taking place since March.
He said all suppliers had been local and he had spent large sums on wildflower seeds, bulbs and cherry laurel plants to enhance the space, with a designated fire point also created.
“Everything’s been done as it should be,” he said, adding: “If I have to, I’ll get rid of everything and just live in a tent, but I’m staying — the only way I’m leaving is in a box.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands concerns about the site have been raised with Hudswell and District Parish Council.
Councillor John Dixon, chair of the parish council, said the concerns had been passed on to North Yorkshire Council.
North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for community development, Nic Harne, said: “Our planning enforcement policy ensures that all breaches are investigated and we take such matters very seriously as they can affect the well-being, safety and health of communities in North Yorkshire.
“We do not comment on individual cases, however, if the issue cannot be resolved through our initial engagement, we would consider appropriate enforcement action.”
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Why can’t they leave them alone to live their lives as they want. They are putting money into the community. And vision. I am sure that the community will back them up I hope.
So what exactly has be done, on privately owned land, that is against the “rules” of the Yorkshire Council? Nothing in the article explains what’s going on.
Move them . Everybody has to follow the rules how come Roma think they don’t apply to them.
What precisely are the objections?
He claims to be both a Romani with 5 generations in Skipton, but not here, and a “property developer” and thinks people will swallow his words and believe him?
When the rest of us have hoops of fire to get through and months of anguish in order to get planning permission for a simple house extension it’s downright insulting to allow people to move to this area and put up dozens of unfriendly (arguably threatening?) signs along with ‘movable’ fixtures (one static, two mobile caravans, two sheds..). Our extension required a commitment to plant 24 trees…and here we have people graveling over half an acre of grassland expecting passive acceptance.