A Traveller family who allegedly demanded £600,000 from residents of Dinton in Buckinghamshire to leave a plot of land they had bought for a fraction of that price have now formally applied to the local council for permission to station caravans there permanently. The family, led by patriarch Jimmy Doran, bought the quarter-acre greenfield site in February and swiftly moved caravans, diggers and hardstanding onto the plot, which sits in a conservation area near the Chiltern Hills. Villagers say they were told they could buy back the land for around £600,000, roughly forty times the reported £15,000 purchase price, but refused, prompting the planning application after what residents call a failed "land grab" and "blackmail attempt".

Buckinghamshire Council is considering the application to site two mobile homes, two touring caravans and a day room on the land, which is subject to a Church of England covenant restricting it to agricultural use. Of Dinton's roughly 800 residents, 128 have formally objected, citing noise, privacy, traffic and the impact on the area's protected landscape status. Resident Caroline Bevan, whose renovated home directly overlooks the site, says she has faced death threats and online abuse, including being branded a "racist Karen" in a now-removed TikTok video, and fears becoming a "prisoner in her own house" if the plan is approved. The case echoes a similar 2019 dispute in Dough Bank, Worcestershire, involving other members of the Doran family.