Locals raise alarm after spate of fires at derelict Tynefield Caravan Park site in Whiteley

The News, Portsmouth

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00:00I'm Flavian, the farmer next door to the caravan site.

00:04What's the name of your farm, sorry?

00:06Tynefield Farm.

00:07Tynefield Farm, perfect.

00:08Obviously you've been having quite a few issues here with the caravan park next door which is vacant.

00:12So yeah, would you want to tell us a little bit about what's been happening?

00:15Yes, so we've been on the farm now since April 2023.

00:20And actually before getting the farm, which is a Hampshire County Council farm,

00:25one of the reasons that we potentially wouldn't have come here was because I was next to this.

00:29Right.

00:30But we thought actually it's a daily place so we're not going to have any issues.

00:35So I moved in, obviously started a business.

00:37We've got a young family there and we've got businesses around us.

00:40But of late, I'd say in the last probably year, year and a half,

00:44there have just been sporadic fires in the caravan site, burning out old caravans.

00:49And yeah, it's getting a bit out of hand I'd say.

00:52Yeah, because obviously you say we've got fires and there's lots of kind of material

00:56that's quite flammable in there and easy to set alight.

00:58But it's also, while it's next door, it's kind of very, very close to your farm.

01:02So it could quite easily spread to your farm, do you think?

01:04Yes.

01:05So like if we have dry weather like the summer we've just had,

01:08it wouldn't take much to go through the hedge.

01:11We've got a shed with straw.

01:12We've got a shed with animals and other bits of kit.

01:15So yeah, it's definitely not ideal having fires going off every so often.

01:21And it's not just during the day.

01:23We've had one at night, sort of nine, ten o'clock fire engine came out.

01:27And yeah, just that uncertainty of not knowing when the next one will be,

01:31it's not really ideal.

01:33Yeah, so how many times do you think over the last year that you've kind of had the five people come out?

01:39I'd say nearly half a dozen times.

01:42And it's probably not something it feels like every month, but I'd say at least one every two months.

01:49Right, yeah.

01:50And maybe because people come here exploring, let's say people,

01:55mostly sort of teenagers or late teens, early twenties, and you don't know who's who.

02:02So it's an aerial sight, anyone walks in.

02:06Sometimes people used to tip rubbish by the road there,

02:10but that's been blocked now so people can't tip anymore.

02:12So yeah, it just attracts sometimes unwanted attention, really.

02:19So do you kind of fear for your safety or fear for your farm safety?

02:23I think, yeah, some of the fires are a bit too close to the hedge.

02:28And like I said, if I've got animals in there and they end up, the shed goes up,

02:34they'll just end up burning, which yes, I know the animals get eaten,

02:38but I think that's a bit more controlled than burning alive.

02:42Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

02:43Obviously you can see the police tape behind you.

02:45So what the kind of, the police said anything about this, anything they could do?

02:48So actually this is the first time since we've been here where there's been police tape.

02:54Normally the fire, the fire brigade come and fair play to them.

02:58Like last time our neighbors called them and they were here in less than 10 minutes.

03:03And they come do the job and go.

03:05And whenever you ask them about what can you guys do about this?

03:08And they, it's not within their remit to do anything.

03:11They can, they obviously report that they've been out to an incident.

03:14And it gets put up online by locals when they drive past them.

03:19So the last one, you can see it from the motorway.

03:22Yeah.

03:23So I was coming back from postal and you can see the smoke.

03:25So yeah, people do put it up online.

03:28I think authorities have been contacted, but we've not seen a difference yet.

03:32Or anything hasn't happened significant to stop any more fires.

03:35Perfect.

03:36Yeah.

03:37And as a council, kind of obviously council over farm or council over farm, have they,

03:41is there any kind of, are there any response to it at all?

03:44I think because they don't own this, uh, nearly caravan site, there's nothing they can do.

03:49Um, well, I say nothing, maybe there is something they can do, but I don't know.

03:52Yeah.

03:53And nothing has been done.

03:54Let's put it that way.

03:55Yeah.

03:56Yeah.

03:57Yeah.

03:58Yeah.

04:00Yeah.

04:01Yeah.

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