Neighbour warring Martin Clunes on traveller site 'is heir to fortune'

Hippie neighbour who won latest stage of planning battle with Martin Clunes over traveller site plan ‘is heir to a fortune after his mother sold actor 130-acre Dorset farm for £3m’ (and he refuses to live in a house ‘because it’s bad for the environment’)

• Mr Clunes lodged an objection to the plans along with several neighbours 
• His new-age hippie neighbours applied to turn site into permanent traveller site

Doc Martin star Martin Clunes is locked in a planning battle with a new age hippie whose own mother reportedly sold the actor his 130-acre Dorset farm for around £3million. 

Theo Langdon, 52, and his partner Ruth McGill, have enraged their neighbours after their application for a permanent traveller site next to the star’s mansion near Beaminster was recommended for approval. 

The actor, 61, his wife Philippa, 58, and his fellow villagers are vehemently opposed to the proposal and submitted an objection to plans for the controversial development.

Artists Mr Langdon and Ms McGill have been living in an unauthorised mobile home on land that they own for many years – with locals arguing the presence causes ‘harm’ to the area’s ‘character and beauty’.

But new registry documents have revealed that Theo’s mother Georgia Langton, a celebrated garden designer, sold the mansion to Clunes for around £3million, and later sold the remainder of the land to her son for £128,315 in June 2019. 

Doc Martin star Martin Clunes is in a planning battle with a hippy whose own mother sold the mansion to the actor, making him the heir to a fortune

Dorset Council recommended the the plans to build a permanent traveller site on Wintergreen Barn, Meerhay, just outside Beaminster, right next to the TV star’s Dorset farm

His new-age hippie neighbours Theo Langdon, 52, and his partner Ruth McGill, have been living in the unauthorised mobile home on land that they own for 25 years – with locals arguing the presence causes ‘harm’ to the area’s ‘character and beauty’

According to The Sun, a source revealed: ‘The suggestion that they’re new age travellers and are penniless is nonsense. Theo will be a wealthy guy one day.’

In 2015 the local council granted the travelling couple a five year temporary licence to live on the site, but this expired in 2020 and they have been living there illegally ever since.

However, the couple subsequently applied to legalise the settlement and turn it into a permanent private residential traveller site, and have now had the proposal recommended for approval.

This will make their 45ft by 16ft mobile home on slabs legal along with a caravan that is already on site. It would also allow them to add two more caravans for visitors to stay in.

The couple cite one of their reasons for not living in a regular home to being bad for the environment, having told the Dorset Echo it would increase their use of natural resources.

He said: ‘On one level we are all being told to live in an environmentally low-impact way, but if the council move us they are pushing our carbon footprint up.’  

Mr Clunes and his wife Philippa lodged an objection to the plans along with several neighbours, claiming the proposals would intensify the existing travellers site and ruin the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Their planning agent, Will Cobley, said: ‘Our clients have lived at their property for many years and are concerned by the proposal, which seeks to authorise and intensify a nearby traveller use on a permanent basis.’

Mr Cobley said the Clunes’ believe that protected countryside is a ‘wholly unsuitable’ location for a traveller site and pointed out the lack of access to basic services like electricity, water and sewage.

Beaminster Town Council also said the land was ‘unsuitable’ for a travellers encampment as have neighbours Diana and Robert Clarke.

But it has now emerged that planning officials at Dorset Council are backing the application made by Mr Langton, 53, and Ms McGill, 48.

But new registry documents have revealed that Theo’s mother Georgia Langton, a celebrated garden designer, sold the mansion to Clunes for around £3million, and later sold the remainder of the land to her son for £128,315 in June 2019 (Theo and Ruth are pictured in 2007) 

The Clunes’ first bought a Grade II listed former vicarage in the village of Powerstock, near Bridport, in 2001 before moving into their current home in 2007

The actor, 61, his wife Philippa, 58, and his fellow villagers are vehemently opposed to the proposal and submitted an objection to plans for the controversial development 

Mr Clunes and his wife Philippa lodged an objection to the plans (pictured) along with several neighbours

Actor Martin Clunes pictured with two horses on his 130-acre farm near Beaminster in Dorset

In his report, council officer Bob Burden cited the general lack of sites for ‘gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople’ in Dorset as a major reason why it should go ahead.

He said the demand for such pitches has increased in recent years and insisted the development would not harm the natural beauty of the area.

He said: ‘Given the ongoing policy and research background of lack of available site options, coupled with the minimal visual impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty it is considered that the use of this site as a permanent base for this traveller family is acceptable.’

Members of Dorset Council’s planning committee will meet in the near future to vote on whether to go ahead with the recommendations of granting the application approval.

The Clunes’ have lived in Dorset for over 20 years.

They first bought a Grade II listed former vicarage in the village of Powerstock, near Bridport, in 2001 before moving into their current home in 2007.

Ruth McGill and Theo Langton run a business called Masque The Rage making one-off metalwork pieces of art including masks, hats, wings and various other pieces of headwear.

The pair share two children, aged 16 and 18, with Mr Langton’s son from a previous marriage having lived in the mobile home with the family. It is not known if their  children still reside there.

The Clunes’ have lived in Dorset for over 20 years. They first bought a Grade II listed former vicarage in the village of Powerstock, near Bridport, in 2001 before moving into their current home in 2007 (Clunes pictured as Doc Martin)

 In 2015 the local council granted the travelling couple a five year temporary licence to live on the site, but this expired in 2020 and they have been living there illegally ever since (Theo Langton is pictured)

However, the couple subsequently applied to legalise the settlement and turn it into a permanent private residential traveller site, and have now had the proposal recommended for approval (pictured, Ruth McGill)

Mr Langton, who was once a town councillor, has lived on the site of at Wintergreen Barn, Meerhay, just outside Beaminster, since 1997.

The same year Martin Clunes moves into his current home beside Wintergreen Barn was the year Dorset Council ruled the hippie couple ‘must move’ because the ‘site’s continued presence would cause substantial or localised harm’ to the character and appearance of ‘this part of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Beauty’.

In January 2007 the council refused his temporary planning permission bid which requested to station a mobile home in the spot for three years, Dorset Echo reported.

The site in question is a wooded area where Mr Langton and Ms McGill live, and at the time the publication noted that the pair earned their money by hosting arts and crafts workshops to summer festivals as well as casual work locally in the winter.

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