Salcombe Town Council have responded to South Hams District Council’s points about The Berry, saying “no offer has been made”.

Cllr Graham Lennox of Salcombe Town Council said: “At the beginning of the year, Salcombe Town Council was advised by SHDC that they were looking at all their land and its future uses.

“In view of the renewal of The Berry lease being in August this year, and rumours within the town with regards to SHDC’s potential uses of the land, the town council took the decision to seek legal opinion as to their options.”

Historically, The Berry was gifted to the people of Salcombe by Elspeth Carr and subsequently held in a charitable trust. In 1972, the Local Government Act meant that Salcombe Urban District Council ceased to exist and land in their ownership was transferred to the newly formed South Hams District Council, but leased back to the town council.

In recent years, and especially in the last few months, the town council has “endeavoured” to “obtain a clear picture of the status of the land parcels that comprise The Berry, as not all are covered by the charitable covenant”.

Cllr Lennox continued: “However, in early May, the town council was made aware of a Freedom of Information request, made by a member of the public, in which a SHDC officer advised that the district council have been in discussions with the Charity Commission with regard to a possible land swap to free an area up for development, and that SHDC had also applied to register a section of land on The Berry as yet unregistered.”

Following Salcombe Town Council’s receipt of legal opinion, this transfer is being challenged.

As the town council has been unsuccessful in obtaining information on the land transferred to SHDC and in view of SHDC’s discussions with the Charity Commission, the town council requested their solicitors to write to SHDC requesting that the land in question be transferred back to Salcombe Town Council to be used in the future for the enjoyment of the people of Salcombe.

Cllr Lennox continued: “The statement ‘There is an offer on the table for Salcombe Town Council...’ is incorrect as no offer had been made to the town council and no meeting has, as yet, taken place.

“No correspondence has been sent by Salcombe Town Council, as their specialist law firm has been dealing with this matter on our behalf, and the recent response from SHDC’s solicitor did not offer to discuss this matter but merely stated ‘there are a number of issues in your letter that are simply not correct but we so not propose spending yet more time and public money arguing thesis points.’

“The statement in the Gazette article that ‘the comments from SHDC were “unhelpful”..’ are therefore unfounded and it is hoped that the meeting, belatedly offered on May 18, will address the town’s concerns.”