A Terrierman's Gypsy Curse

A terrierman has threatened his neighbors with the ultimate Gypsy Curse.  As The Daily Mail reports:

A man who claims his neighbours have made his life 'hell' is threatening to exact revenge by selling his field to travellers.

Bryn Chittenden, 46, says his attempts get planning permission for a barn on his field in Essex have been blocked time and again due to opposition from residents living on a nearby estate.

Now the bitter former print manager intends to sell the 20-acre plot to gypsies, sparking fears the site in St Lawrence Bay could become 'a new Dale farm'.

Mr Chittenden has said he would not sell the land to any of his neighbours for 'a million pounds', but would accept a fraction of that amount for the 'satisfaction' of seeing gypsies move in.

He warned residents on the neighbouring Scarletts estate: 'If you think I'm a problem, wait 'till a hundred travellers turn up in their caravans'.

Mr Chittenden, a terrier man for the Essex Farmers and Union Hunt, has advertised the sale online and even told residents he plans to take out a full page advertisement in a quarterly magazine aimed at gypsies and travellers.

Much of the row has been played out on Facebook, with Mr Chittenden making his threats on a local community page for the St Lawrence Bay area

He warned: 'The land will also be advertised outside of Facebook, including a full page advert in the Travellers’ Times, a magazine for gypsies and travellers which I doubt many of you will get.

'I have had a couple of offers for the land already but some things in life are more important than money so I will end up taking less just for the satisfaction of watching travellers take over,' he said.

Mr Chittenden's plans have left residents living on the Scarletts estate afraid the land could end up resembling the notorious Dale Farm, the six acre plot in Crays Hill that was Europe's largest illegal traveller camp until residents were evicted in 2011.

'If you think I'm a problem, wait 'til a hundred travellers turn up in their caravans'

'It's a real concern because by publishing the land on the internet and in traveller magazines there's a real chance that people will turn up and start to live on the land illegally,' said one woman from the estate, who did not want to be named.

'Once they get here it is almost impossible to get them to move on. It’s happened here before and it’s happened in Essex many times.

'We don’t want to live next-door to another Dale Farm.'

But Mr Chittenden, who bought the site five years ago for £100,000, insists he will the land to his neighbours at any price.

'I’ve never wanted to develop the land. I just want to graze some animals there,' he said.

'But every time I try and do anything with the land they oppose any changes. They have made my life hell and now I will sell it to travellers.

'Even if they offered me a million pounds I would not sell it to them. But if travellers offered me £100,000, it’s all theirs,' he said.

The land is designated as agricultural, and since the row erupted Maldon District Council has plastered posters around the site warning against attempting to park caravans in the field.

The orange posters state 'the stationing of caravans without planning permission' is banned, as is 'motor car and motorcycle racing' and the stationing of 'any moveable structure' without planning permission.

A spokesman for Maldon District Council said: 'The landowner can sell his land to whoever he wants.

'But we are clear this is agricultural land and it is clear what it can and cannot be used for.'

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