There could be a new hope for long-suffering Coverack residents who have had to put up with travellers living on one of their car parks for almost a decade.

Tim Pickett, a designer and architect in the village, told the last meeting of St Keverne Parish Council that he was working with local farmer Mr Tylor to bring about a private traveller site, linked with an affordable housing project, in a bid to finally find a solution to the long-running issue.

Mr Pickett said the location of the site was not going to be made public yet, and warned it would not be a quick fix.

He said: “The [Cornwall] council aren’t the quickest off the blocks I’m afraid, but they have sent me through terms of 106 agreements.

“These sorts of things that have legal ramifications can take six, to eight to ten weeks to get through to try and find some common ground. That’s not to say they’ll be successful.”

He stressed that this was not to be a transient site, which had the potential to “open the door for more travellers to move on.”

Cornwall Council had been attempting to set up a transient site near Liskeard, but this was refused against officer recommendation following an outcry in the local community.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Mr Pickett. “What we don’t want to do is show our hand, where we’re proposing a site. As soon as it’s in the public domain it’s out of our control.

“We’re trying to do something, but pushing against the tide sometimes.”

Earlier in the meeting Cornwall councillor Walter Sanger had told villagers that Cornwall Council was not allowed to move the travellers from the car park unless there was an alternative site for them to go on.

He had also spoken about the possibility of a traveller site in the parish – but a transient one.

Mr Sanger said: “We’re hopefully going to have a transient site within the parish. The process is going through and it doesn’t happen immediately.

“As soon as there is a site to be pointed to they can be thrown off [the car park].”

He added that there |had been a suggestion to make |a dedicated site at Zoar, where travellers have already stayed, but public opinion was that this was not the right place.

Since then there had been talks about a different site, which had not been made public.

“The only council land that Cornwall Council had, the |people who lived in that vicinity |did not want it – and at that |time they were talking about |a similar permanent site |much closer to Coverack, and |you wouldn’t have liked that |one either; I said no,” Mr Sanger revealed.