A PLAQUE has been fixed to the gate on Church Path, leading to Efford Downs in Bude, to commemorate the saving of the land by the town more than 30 years ago.

At the time, the whole of Bude rose up to oppose the planning application to build on this land, which is the gateway to Storm Tower and the cliffs.

In 1986-87, an unattended petition left on the top of the steps leading from Breakwater Road to the Breakwater received more than 10,000 signatures to stop the development — not only signed by local people, but by hundreds of holiday makers from all over the world.

Bude Town Council and the county council both agreed that the land should not be developed. The application was refused but there was an appeal.

In 1987, a planning inspector from the Department of the Environment came to decide the matter at a three-day public hearing held in the Old Parish Hall in Bude.

Many locals, experts on different subjects pertaining to the development of the Downs, gave statements and were cross-examined, one after the other.

Rennie Bere, Bude’s own David Attenborough, told how that part of the Downs had two rare flowers — the dwarf thistle and the autumn gentian — growing on the land. Later, the site was to be a designated SSSI — a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Roy Thorn of the Old Cornwall Society spoke about the history of this piece of land, where troops had gathered for the D-Day landings and, centuries earlier, before the Battle of Stamford Hill.

Des Gregory, the much-loved publican of the Brendon Arms, told local yarns of camping there as a boy and courting there as a young man.

Claims were also made that dead bodies had been brought over the land from shipwrecks, with old Cornish lore stating that no one can build on land that has been consecrated by having had dead bodies brought over it.

Sadly most of these old Bude characters are no longer with us, but they will certainly be smiling down as the plaque attests to the saving of this piece of land for all of Bude and its visitors to enjoy.

Present for the unveiling of the plaque were Jeffrey Golden from Efford Cottage, who led the legal battle against the developer, Rita Golden, Jackie Adams, who oversaw the petition, Brian Adams and Paul and Mary Tilzey.