People in Salcombe are worried about the future of The Berry, but South Hams Council have moved to reassure them.

A petition has been started by Andrew Groves, saying that the Berry - an area of land gifted to the people of Salcombe in the 1940s - is “under threat” from SHDC and “if we want it to remain as a valuable community space we need to act now”.

The agitation around the Berry stems from the fact that The Berry has been leased to Salcombe Town Council by SHDC for 25 years and this lease runs out on August 22. There has also been worries that SHDC will attempt to develop the area.

There is also contention over whether land at The Berry should ever have been passed to South Hams Council in the first place. When the land was gifted to Salcombe by Elspeth Carr, it was gifted to the now defunct Salcombe Urban District Council.

Under the Local Government Act of 1972, the Salcombe Urban District Council was abolished and Salcombe Town Council and South Hams District Council were created, and The Berry moved to be controlled by SHDC.

A charitable trust, the Charity for Elspeth Mary Carr for Recreation Ground, which is registered with the Charity Commission, controls the land that was gifted to the people of Salcombe. The trustee is South Hams District Council.

Chris Brook - assets cop lead at SHDC, Cllr Simon Wright and Cllr Judy Pearce sat down with us on Wednesday morning at Follaton House to explain the situation at The Berry and the council’s position on it.

Chris said that the land was transferred to SHDC completely legally, but it had been the start of the “friction” over The Berry.

He explained that not all of The Berry is within the trust. If you look at the plan, the areas marked B1, B2 and B3 are the areas gifted by Elspeth Carr and are owned by the charity. The play area, area A and C, and all other 'pink areas' are owned by South Hams Council.

Chris said: “There is no way for the land owned by the charity to be built on. It would be against the rules of the Charity Commission.

?“Currently, the area marked as B1 is an overgrown building plot, full of brambles. There is a suggestion that that area could be ‘swapped’ with another area owned by the council, with the possibility of development on B1, but the charity would gain the same amount of land in another area.”?

Cllrs Pearce and Wright both interjected to say that they are “insistent” that any money made by that development would be ring fenced for the Salcombe community and wouldn’t disappear in to the big hole of SHDC finances.

Chris continued: “Where there is an appetite for devolving these kind of areas of land, we can pass it down, for example, Dartmouth Town Council are currently negotiating the transfer of assets, including Coronation Park, Royal Avenue Gardens and the Castle Estate.

“There is an offer on the table for Salcombe Town Council, we can transfer the trust to Salcombe Town Council, but we would be unwilling to change the trustees to a specific person or people.

“The other pockets of land, the play area and areas A and C, we are willing to transfer at no cost. We need to check that Salcombe Town Council are interested, as there are costs associated with the management and upkeep of the land. Councils can put money into the charity but can’t take it out.

“There could be merit in the development of area A, there is a theoretical possibility, but this has not been considered by the SHDC. The money from any future development, could be used to provide extra facilities for the charity’s land.”

Chris explained that there were currently letters being written between solicitors acting on behalf of Salcombe Town Council and SHDC, but that the comments from STC were “unhelpful”, and SHDC have offered a meeting to negotiate the future of The Berry.