Wheelchair-bound pensioner Russell Bennett says he will stop bulldozers when they come to clear Regency Living-owned Mount Pleasant Caravan & Camping Park on Matchams Lane, Hurn

A WHEELCHAIR-bound man who lives on a Christchurch caravan park set to be cleared by bulldozers said he will park his mobility scooter in front of demolition vehicles to stop them.

Pensioner Russell Bennett has lived at Mount Pleasant Caravan & Camping Park on Matchams Lane, Hurn, for nine years. He is one of around 60 residents who have been slapped with an eviction notice as the park’s owners want to put chalet bungalows costing over £300,000 each on the site.

Residents were told by letter in January that they had to be out by 28th February.

He said: “I am not leaving here. If they put me in a council flat, I could be dead within a week. I have serious health issues, and everyone looks after each other here.

“Someone checks on me at least three times a day. If they find me ill and bedbound, they will make me a cup of tea or something to eat, or get me a doctor if I need it.

“If I was taken ill in a block of flats, who is going to do that? I could be lying there dead for days.”

Russell says he will stop the bulldozers coming onto the site: “I have a mobility scooter, and I will put it right in the their way. Others have said they will join me. We will not go without a fight!”

His neighbour Jasmine Mason, a domestic abuse victim, moved to the site two years ago after she was placed in a council home with five men.

She said: “This place has helped me heal; I absolutely love living here. It is such a fantastic community.

“I am just devastated about the eviction. I brought my van for £2,000 and pay £400 rent a month. Rents in this area are extortionate, I just won’t be able to afford it.”

The site was owned by Peter Dunn for over 30 years but after his death was sold to Royale Life which specialises in bungalow developments.

That company went bust in 2023 and the site, along with several others along Matchams Lane, were acquired by Regency Living.

They have already developed one former caravan site along the lane and now want to do the same with Mount Pleasant.

Residents said appeals to BCP Council for help have “fallen on deaf ears” with the authority saying the site was never intended to be lived in all year round.

Tony Cameron, who has lived at Mount Pleasant for 25 years, is leading the fight to stop the eviction. He showed the A&T a letter from a planning inspectorate dated October 2017 which states that the site was “open to human habitation 365 days of the year for the purposes of siting touring caravans.”

He said: “It specifically states touring caravans, not static caravans or park homes. If someone wanted to build a house on this land, the council would reject that.

“So why is it alright to put park homes on here? My wife has been made so ill by the eviction notice which gave us 38 days to leave, the doctor has had to put her on anti-depressants.”

A spokesperson for Regency Living said: "Mount Pleasant is currently a touring field with infrastructure, operations and occupants with oral pitch agreements for holiday occupation purposes only.

"Mount Pleasant does not currently meet our standards for a permanent residential park and requires significant investment to bring it up to standard before this can be viable."

But army veteran Nick Vernon, who has lived on the site for over 18 years, said he believes it has been allowed to become “run down deliberately”.

He said: “It was always spick and span before Royale Life brought it. But since then, maintenance work hasn’t been done, the grounds look dreadful, and the toilets are in a terrible state.

“It never looked this before but I think it is all tactics to intimidate us to leave here.

“I have no idea where to go, there are hardly any residential sites, and I can’t see myself being given a council place – they didn’t help me 18 years ago even though I am an army veteran who fought for this country.”

Neighbour Robert Palfrey says he is “absolutely devastated”: “I was happily living my retirement here. It’s been the best way of life ever.

“It seems completely stupid to me to kick over 60 people off this site and expect the council to house them.”