CAMPAIGNERS against plans for a controversial rehabilitation centre at Highampton are going head to head with the charity behind the scheme in a bid to scupper the move.

The group of opponents to the C-FAR project have submitted plans to West Devon Borough Council for a rare breeds 'Eden style' visitor attraction at Burdon Grange, to be named the Highampton Ark.

The nursing home, which has been on the market for two years, is also the subject of a planning application by C-FAR for a rehabilitation centre for young offenders.

It is a possibility that both applications will go before the borough council's planning committee on October 16 but if both are approved, the deciding issue will be who comes up with the

money first.

It is a race against time for the Highampton Ark Committee to raise the £80,000 as a 10 per cent deposit on the asking price by owner of the nursing home Maurice Thomas.

Chairman of the Highampton Ark Committee Charles Dumpleton said pledges of £22,000 had come from the community. He was confident that money would be available from other sources to purchase the property — such as the Market Town Initiative, which had earmarked £1 million for projects in the Hatherleigh area.

He denied that villagers had been asked to re-mortgage their houses to raise capital.

The aim of the project is to establish a gene bank of native breeds, promote education opportunities and partnerships with schools and colleges, create a working museum of rural crafts and develop conference and tourism facilities.

Mr Dumpleton said the idea behind the ark was to create jobs in the village and increase tourism in the area.

'It is not that we disagree with what C-FAR wants to do — most of us believe it is admirable — but the small community of Highampton is the wrong place for a centre for young offenders,' he said.

Opponents are concerned that crime will increase and their property prices will fall if the C-FAR plans get the go-ahead.

'The Highampton Ark will not cause the same disturbance to the community as the C-FAR project would — it would enable it to advance not retreat,' added Mr Dumpleton.

'With foot and mouth devastating this area we had to come up with something that would help the economy.'

C-FAR spokesman Richard White said the Highampton Ark plan was seen by the charity as a spoiling tactic rather than a real threat.

'They are comparing it to the Eden project but Eden was seven years in the planning before it came to fruition,' he said.

'There will be an awful lot of expenditure in buying the property and converting it. I cannot see how this group can get the money together in time.'

C-FAR, which has had a temporary base at Okehampton Camp since June last year, runs residential courses for young men, aged 18-24, who have been locked in a cycle of re-offending and want to change their lives.

Mr White said the maximum number of trainees on a course was 24 and that would not change.

'Contrary to what some people are saying we are not expanding — the aim of moving to Highampton is because we want a permanent home that is more suitable than where we are now,' he added.

He said the charity had been completely open with the Highampton community and many residents had changed their minds and decided to support the scheme, having learnt the full facts.

The pioneering work by C-FAR has won support from Ministers of State Paul Boateng and Andrew Smith, the Director of the Prison Service Martin Narey and the High Sherriff of Devon.

'The opponents have the impression that the trainees will be roaming around the community, buying pints down the pub or stamps in the post office, but it does not work like that,' said Mr White.

'They do not have free rein to roam — they will be in their own environment and any time spent away from it will be under strict supervision.'

He said 61.5 per cent of trainees completed the programme, which included nine months mentor support, and anyone who wanted to drop out was either sent back home or to prison.

The police in Okehampton have confirmed that crime has not increased since C-FAR came to town.