We live in a Mad Max-style hidden village in a disused quarry – the council hates it
RESIDENTS living in a hidden Mad Max-style village say the council hates their natural homes and sculptures made from “leftovers”.
Trevone Quarry is a work center of traditional skilled workers and artisans, surrounded by 11 beautiful hectares of woodland.
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The hidden community of artists and craftsmen in Penryn, Cornwall, has just won a seven-and-a-half-year ‘David and Goliath’ battle with a council that tried to evict them.
Their picturesque home has rewilding areas, a communal garden, three hectares of native apple orchards, two hectares of nut orchards, vegetable and soft fruit growing areas, food forests and beehives.
But mechanical sculptor Rob Higgs said they had created a unique and prosperous community that should be used as a blueprint across Britain.
But Cornwall Council said it had breached planning permission and issued an enforcement notice because it was no longer “part industrial” and “agricultural”.
The council deemed it “visually objectionable” and said it had damaged “the intrinsic character and beauty of this sensitive landscape”.
But after a lengthy battle, Rob said the 13 businesses on site had finally been given permission to stay after winning an appeal to the planning inspectorate.
The quarry is designed to give artists and craftsmen such as stonemasons and blacksmiths the opportunity to carry out their work in renovated workshops.
It was described as a sustainable village from “Mad Max” in the Falmouth package and has become a thriving hub for creative businesses.
The quarry operated from 1877 to 1992, before being purchased in 2009 by Rob, a mechanical sculptor.
Together with Sophie Miller, an artist and environmentalist, the pair sought to create an inspiring space for people to work.
It was intended as an area where they would not pay ‘obscene’ prices to rent a space in Cornwall and enable a climate-conscious way of living with nature and art at the forefront.
The 13 businesses on the site range from world famous sculptor Tim Shaw, a blacksmith, Fal River Distillery, artist Bex Bourne, 99p Films, Falmouth Food Co-Op and stonemason Joe Taylor.
Rob said: “I bought an old, old quarry with the right to blast 1,000,000 tonnes and I thought, well, what the heck, get some artists to do a workshop?
“So when we asked the council if we could create artist studios and a nature reserve, they agreed and suggested we do it under industrial use.
“Five years later they came back and said, ‘It doesn’t look like an industrial estate at all.’
“But they said we should go for an industrial estate, we wanted an artist community.”
He continued: “It is because the artists gave love to their spaces and made them look beautiful, which to the officers meant that it was a residential area.
‘I had the right to blow up the building – which is considered ‘sustainable enough’ – but I wanted to set up an artists’ community in a nature reserve?
“That’s a whole different story, and when I started doing it, I had no idea it would be that.
“All I was suggesting was to put a few artists in industrial warehouses and not blow the place up.”
“What I suggested all these years was so radical to their ears, but to me it was so fundamental.”
Cornwall Council argued that planning permission for part agricultural and part industrial use had been breached to include residential use and that the site was not sustainable.
COMMUNITY SENSE
With support from the local community, Rob was able to pay the £80,000 costs and appeal the enforcement notice.
The planning inspector allowed the appeal, saying any “degradation of the landscape” had been significantly mitigated by the regrowth of vegetation.
But Rob claims it has taken a toll on everyone in the community – both mentally and financially.
He said he initially bought the plot of land in 2009, but only started living there years later as he had happily settled in a shipyard in Ponsharden.
He added: “I have created a village, a small hamlet and a grassroots community because people want to be here – they love it.
“25 years ago you could rent units at low prices in Cornwall, but it has been modernized – so there is now a huge shortage of affordable workspace.
“Most people don’t want to spend crazy prices renting a studio space, so therein lies Trevone Quarry: a great community that promises food, shelter and connection to beautiful nature.”
The community has since transformed from an abandoned lot to a thriving space for creative businesses.
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The first artist to join Trevone Quarry was Tim Shaw, who has just completed a permanent exhibition for the Imperial War Museum in Manchester.
Another member of the community is Elle Demaus, 32, a Rum Distiller for Stormy Petrel, who has been on the site for five years.
She said: “I have a greenhouse and I hope to plant a herb garden to experiment with flavors for my rum.
“Rob gives very fair rates and a lot of freedom in what I can do with the workshop.
“I’m attracted to the beauty of the place, I like the tranquility.”
Trevone Quarry grows around ten tonnes of willow and hardwood each year, providing tenants with free fuel, while solar water heating units have also been built from recycled materials left in the quarry.
I am attracted to the beauty of the place, I like the tranquility”
Elle Demaus, 32
The campsite has its own well, so that everyone has plenty of free water.
Rob describes it as a “new model of an industrial estate with the natural world woven into the fabric” with no distinction between them.
He has now encouraged people to come visit Trevone Quarry and see the ‘magic’ for themselves.
Cornwall Council said: “A planning enforcement notice has been issued in relation to unauthorized development at the site.
“The municipality continued to work with residents throughout the appeal process.
“The inspector who heard the appeal took into account recent changes in planning policy, which he is entitled to do, in his decision to grant planning permission.”
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