News Landowner under siege
A man says he is coming under siege from thieves and vandals.
Jason Allen, who runs a smallholding at Oakhill - the nature reserve near Goole - is having to guard his property every night as a result of persistent raids.
Mr Allen, who is originally from Newark, bought a piece of land at Oakhill last year to run a smallholding.
Since that time one of his guard dogs has been shot dead, he has had a horse box stolen and a stable burned down.
To guard against the raids, Mr Allen has been living in a caravan on the site to keep a watch on his property.
He says he is legally entitled to live on the land and has permission to use the track which leads onto the site.
"They've been down every night since Christmas," said Mr Allen. "That stable cost me £1,500 but I went down one morning and it was in ashes.
"Every night you can guarantee that somebody will come down and try to rob me."
Mr Allen says his dog was shot through the throat just before Christmas, at around the same time his horse-box was stolen.
He added that large groups of men were going down to the Oakhill pond to catch fish and then eat them on-site instead of putting them back in the water.
Mr Allen said they were frying the fish at the pond and also stealing chickens' eggs from his site.
He says Oakhill is also being spoiled by people leaving beer bottles, crisp packets and bread bags all over the place.
He added that, contrary to some claims, he did have right of access to the site and that he had been given permission by a neighbouring landowner to drive through his site onto Oakhill.
Mr Allen said he had locked the gate which leads to his site but people kept cutting the chain.
"People are getting through with stolen cars and burning them out," he added. "Yet the police hardly ever come down. I'm buying things to better my place but they either get burnt, smashed up or pinched."
He admitted he had been issued with a planning contravention notice by the East Riding Council, but said that was only because of the fence around his site.
As well as poultry Mr Allen - who lives in Old Goole with his wife and three children - keeps a horse and several dogs, which guard his property at night.
During the day he is site manager at Airmyn waste tip and insists that, contrary to speculation, he is not running a scrap business from the Oakhill site.
He says he bought the Oakhill site 15 months ago from a man who runs a Beverley haulage company and that it was originally intended for industrial use.
However, he now says he intends to keep cattle there.
Last week we ran a story about youths running amok with guns and off-road bikes around Oakhill.
The Friends of Oakhill, a group set up to look after the interests of the nature reserve, claimed Mr Allen's presence was another instance of Oakhill becoming a "free-for-all" which was open to "all and sundry'.
But Mr Allen said: "The Friends of Oakhill have been a problem to me from the beginning. All I'm trying to do is run a smallholding. What's it got to do with them what I'm doing down there?"
Mr Allen - who claims to be registered with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), also scotched the notion that he had "barricaded himself in" with corrugated sheets.
"I've simply put a fence up to keep my horses off the train lines," he said. "The fence is only temporary."
He added: "I've got to stay there at night because I'm sick of getting things nicked.'
Sergeant Neil Coy, of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: "We have had some calls relating to incidents of anti-social behaviour at Oakhill and in response to this officers are patrolling the local area.
"We work closely with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council country side officers and have previously seized motorbikes following comp-laints from members of the public.
"We are working hard to reduce crime in Goole and surrounding areas and I urge anyone who has any information relating to specific incidents around Oakhill to report them to the police."
The number to call is 0845 606 0222.
A spokeswoman for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council confirmed a planning contravention notice had been served on Mr Allen.
A spokesman for the Friends of Oakhill said the group didn't wish to comment about the Oakhill site.
Published on 29th May 2008 in News.
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