Newhaven Highway 'abusive squatters' claim they were bullied by Lewes District Council enforcement officers

A couple labelled as 'abusive squatters' have said they were bullied by enforcement officers to leave their Newhaven home and are 'heartbroken' their attempt at living off the grid is over.
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A couple labelled as 'abusive squatters' have said they were bullied by enforcement officers to leave their Newhaven home and are 'heartbroken' their attempt at living off the grid is over.

The pair were staying in a caravan on The Highway, until they were served an enforcement notice to clear the site.

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The council said this notice was subsequently ignored and in response they served an Injunction Order to the couple which was also disobeyed. They stated when enforcement officers finally arrived earlier this month they were greeted with an 'appalling eyesore'.

The pair were staying in a caravan on The Highway, until they were served an enforcement notice to clear the site.The pair were staying in a caravan on The Highway, until they were served an enforcement notice to clear the site.
The pair were staying in a caravan on The Highway, until they were served an enforcement notice to clear the site.

However, the two squatters have said in the time they lived there they cleared around half the land of all rubbish and overgrown weeds - allowing plants like daffodils to start growing again.

One of them said: "We were desperate to get a start on our off grid life and decided to use our knowledge of adverse possession to live in and begin renovating the land and the caravan.

"The land and caravan had previously been abandoned for around two or three years. It was horrifically overgrown and an eyesore.

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"The photos [in the previous article] are of the parts we hadn't got to cleaning yet, yet there are no photos of how the land looked before and after we started clearing it."

The two squatters have said in the time they lived there they cleared around half the land of all rubbish and overgrown weeds - allowing plants like daffodils to start growing again.The two squatters have said in the time they lived there they cleared around half the land of all rubbish and overgrown weeds - allowing plants like daffodils to start growing again.
The two squatters have said in the time they lived there they cleared around half the land of all rubbish and overgrown weeds - allowing plants like daffodils to start growing again.

The couple claim when the enforcement officers came to take their caravan, they were threatened that they would be 'dragged away with it' if they didn't do things to the planned schedule.

In a statement, Lewes District Council said: "To make clear, our team called the Police to oversee the removal of all items associated with residential living on this site, in accordance with the enforcement notice.

"We understand that since the removal operation was undertaken, there has been damage caused to a fence and threatening behaviour directed at a neighbouring resident. All matters have been reported to the Police."

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One local resident described how the fence - which was put up afterwards to stop any further caravans from using the location, had been 'destroyed violently'.

CCTV footage shared with the Sussex Express shows a car being driven into the fence, however the pair fervently deny this incident had anything to do with them.

The district council have previously said the couple were 'abusive squatters who regularly harassed neighbouring residents', leaving rubbish piled up alongside a dilapidated caravan and other vehicles and equipment.

Councillor Stephen Gauntlett, Cabinet Member for Planning, said at the time of the eviction: “The impact of this appalling eyesore was made worse by the anti-social behaviour of those living on the site. Their behaviour was making life a misery for those living nearby. I’m delighted that our officers have acted decisively to remove all evidence of what had become an horrendous blot on the landscape.”

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However, the squatters say claims of their being 'abusive' couldn't be further from the truth, stating they had countless conversations with locals who loved what we were doing with the place.

The squatters said: "We were both heart broken in leaving as we loved living there and had huge plans for what to do with the land, but we'd never be abusive to the locals."

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