AN 86-year-old former Army brigadier has forged an alliance with a band of tree dwellers to stop a holiday camp being built on a coastal beauty spot.
The protesters, who have started erecting precarious tree houses and sinking underground shafts, are supplied with food and clothes by Brigadier John Samuel and his wife Margaret, 84.
They are among locals strongly opposed to the £100 million Oasis holiday village at Lyminge Forest, near Folkestone, Kent.
On the site last week were more than 15 veterans of environmental battles, such as Newbury and Twyford Down.
"Good luck to them, I say, and the more the merrier," said Brig Samuel. "We are doing our bit to help them and we wish them well."
Brig Samuel retired in 1962 and now lives in a 14th-century house overlooking the forest. He added: "Some of our friends don't give a tinker's button for the environment but we do and we admire what these young people are doing."
The scale of the proposed development, by Rank, has caused widespread anger in an area of outstanding natural beauty. It proposes 750 lodges for 4,500 holidaymakers, along with lakes, restaurants, a covered village square, a nine-hole golf course and a "sub-tropical waterworld" on 550 acres.
Although Rank says that it has no immediate plans to develop the site, a three-year battle against the plans has gone as far as the High Court.
The tree dwellers' leader, a London University graduate known as Blue, said: "The legal process has now run its distance and we are here to prevent the start of work.
"We believe we have a very good chance of seeing off the development because it will be very, very difficult to winkle us out."
Blue, 22, the son of a car-leasing executive, was arrested alongside fellow protester Daniel Hooper, known as "Swampy", during the eviction of the A30 squatters at Fairmile, Devon.
Blue has been served with an eviction notice by the Forestry Commission, which owns the occupied land, which it has contracted to sell to Rank.
The tree dwellers have circulated a "wish list" of equipment among the local population and have been astonished by the response. Timber, pipes and building materials have been supplied.
Barry Pinyon, 53, an engineer from nearby Elham, has joined them to advise on the construction of underground bunkers and provide specialist welding skills.
"These are very courageous people," he said. "They have real guts and are prepared to put their lives on the line to halt this development."
But Rank's plan has vocal support from the Oasis Village Support Group. A founder member, Joanne Rumsey, believes the leisure development will create a lot of local jobs.
"I am disgusted that these people are trying to prevent this viable construction. They have got the totally wrong idea - an Oasis village would make the forest more beautiful."
A Rank spokeswoman refused to comment on the protest itself, adding: "We do not yet own the site which is being occupied, although we have an option to buy it from the Forestry Commission. It is a matter for them, the police and the local community."
A Forestry Commission spokesman said: "We are monitoring the situation with the police on the possible need to use the possession order that we have obtained through the courts. But if there is no escalation it is possible that the order will not be used."
