Man faces eviction from farm where he has lived all his life

Walter Renwick was born in Plankey Mill Farm Walter Renwick, 68, was born in Plankey Mill Farm and holds a special place in the hearts of visitors to the much-loved beauty spot, near Hexham, where he runs a popular campsite. Mr Renwick is now at risk of being evicted from his home. He has been served with an eviction notice after a challenging struggle with the landowners to remain at the property. According to the Jesuits in Britain, who own the land, the initial lease legally belonged to Walter’s father. After his passing, Walter was granted an extension, which gave him enough time to find a new residence. However, the church claims that the most recent extension expired in 2021. As a result, they have obtained a court order authorising Walter’s eviction, and bailiffs are scheduled to arrive on July 11. Walter has been served with an eviction notice Walter said: “I have been here 68 years, it was in my father’s name before I got it and his father’s before I got it so we have been here quite a long time. It is a three generation farm. “They are coming on July 11 to change all the household locks. If I’m in the house, I’m getting chucked out the house. “I thought I had done everything right, paid everything off but they are determined they are going to sell the property.” Walter, whose ties to the area run deep, has opened up about the devastating effect the battle for the property has had on his life. He said: “It has broken a proud man. Years ago I feared nobody but now when there is a knock at my door, and it sounds pathetic, I’m out the back door and hiding in a barn like a stupid little kid and petrified. “What has happened to me? I have stopped going to the shops now. I feel like I’m not right, I feel like what have they done that’s not Walter, where is Walter. “They have eaten away at my body, they have chip, chip, chipped. I mean some days I could just stay in bed and not get up and that is not me, I worked day and night on the farm. It is not because of my health because I can pace myself around my health.” Walter, whose family’s roots stretch back three generations on this very land, Trending Walter said he can’t put his head anywhere else, adding: “I was born here. It is like a tree with roots. “You know when your roots are here, everything has been put here: my dogs, my rabbits when I was a kid. Every memory I had as a kid, the football, the games when you were a kid when all the campers came. Happiness, there is no happiness now. Happiness is gone. “I get up and do what I have to do. I haven’t had a smile on my face for ages. What are they doing to me?” A spokesman for The Jesuits in Britain said: “The Jesuits in Britain can confirm that they have applied for a possession order on the Plankey Mill property, which is owned by them. “This step has become necessary after repeated and fruitless attempts to persuade the son of the original leaseholder to leave the property fifteen years after his father’s death. “An original lease was held legally by this person’s father, but like similar properties across the UK, there were no clauses in the lease for his children to inherit the rental contract when he died. “Nevertheless, the Jesuits have agreed to several lease extensions totalling thirteen years up until April 2021, in order to give the illegal occupier time to find a new home. “In addition, the Jesuits offered to financially remunerate him, to assist him in his move, if he left the property by November 2022. Since the last lease extension concluded in April 2021, this person has been in illegal possession of the property. “Many of those denouncing the repossession have based their objections on the fact that the son of the leaseholder has been running a paid-for campsite on fields adjacent to the property. “This campsite was never allowed under the terms of the lease, and did not have planning permission from the local authority. However, the Jesuits have never taken action on this point. “Over a number of years, the Jesuits 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.” A spokeswoman for Northumberland County Council said they received a complaint in 2020 regarding an unauthorised campsite on Plankey Mill Farm. She added: “During the investigation, it was discovered that the campsite had been in operation for more than 10 years and is therefore immune from planning enforcement action.”