FOR more than a decade Frank Williams has lived by the picturesque River Itchen in makeshift homes and on land he thought nobody owned.

His current dome tent of almost eight-years has its own postcode and Frank even gets letters from the local authority asking him to register as an elector.

Next week though that same authority is threatening to turf him out of his home as part of a drive to rid the district of unauthorised dwellings.

However, last night in an interview with the Daily Echo the defiant 53-year-old promised to keep battling until the council can prove the land he lives on is theirs.

Frank, who is known to thousands of Winchester residents as the accordion busker from High Street with the three-legged dog, has been disputing the eviction with Winchester City Council for more than two-years.

He says he has repeatedly promised to leave his camp if the authority produces the deeds to the land, but claims they have so far failed to show them to him despite his asking.

Frank, whose dome is next to St Catherine's Hill off Garnier Road, Winchester, said: "As far as I'm concerned it's an ongoing battle.

"I've never believed the council owns this land, but I did say that if they could prove they had the title deeds to the site by June 24 this year, that I would move off it.

"Then I had a letter from the council's solicitor on June 22 saying that they had finally located deeds dating from the 1930's but that they were old and that the plans were not up to modern standards.

"I wrote back on June 23 saying show me the deeds and again promising to move off the land once I had seen them, but they still haven't written back to me and I still haven't seen the documents proving this land is the council's. This has been going on for two-and-a-half years now. They don't need to threaten me with court action because I've already promised to leave once I've seen the deeds.''

However in a report to be voted on the council's planning and development control committee meeting next Wednesday, the authority says it has tracked down the deeds.

and can proceed with legal action to re-possess the land.

The authority is also planning on shutting down seven other sites where camps have either been or are.