WHAT Alan Thompson wants to do most is sprinkle the ashes of his dead mother on the garden of his Liverton home.

But Teignbridge Council – which has been branded 'barbaric and totally insensitive,' – is insisting he and girlfriend Louise Piper quit their three bedroomed house at Ley Close, just three weeks after Pat, his mother, died suddenly.

Friends have bought Pat's favourite fuchsia bush ready for the simple ceremony – but with the notice to quit hanging over their heads the couple don't feel able to go ahead.

Teignbridge is citing under-occupancy for its move, but a clearly distressed Mr Thompson said: 'I'm just shocked. The council is putting bureaucracy over common sense.'

His father Ron died eight years ago from cancer, and his ashes have been sprinkled in the garden. Then, six weeks ago, Pat was walking home from work at Trago Mills when, out of the blue, she collapsed and died.

'Three weeks after that I was told to disappear,' he said.

Mr Thompson, 28, an electrical engineer, has lived in the village all his life and in this house with first both his parents, and then his mother, for 21 years.

He and Louise, also 28, have been together for 12 years, and engaged for 10. 'It's not as if I just picked her up in a nightclub,' he said.

But their plans for a child – like so much else – have had to be put on hold.

When the notice to quit first arrived, the couple thought it was someone playing a joke.

'It was stuffed in the letter box in an unmarked envelope, with the wrong post code, no headed paper and the words "chief housing officer", spelled wrong,' he said.

When they realised it wasn't a joke, Louise burst into tears.

'We want to settle down together here and turn it into our own home,' said Mr Thompson who has received support from a meeting of the parish council on Tuesday night, and people living around him.

The couple are also claiming the backing of Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross and Devon County and Teignbridge Cllr Stuart Barker.

Neighbour Mark Winsor has written to Teignbridge claiming that evicting the couple seemed 'barbaric' and 'to say the least totally insensitive'.

The family had planted a beautiful tree and installed a plaque in memory of Mr Thompson's parents.

'It now seems this was just an empty gesture as they will never be able to visit the memorial without actually trespassing.

'I am aware these decisions are made at high management level and strict criteria has to be adhered to, but surely from an impartial point of view you can see how harsh this would be and what long term effects this would have on an already emotionally destroyed family.

'Surely somebody somewhere has a conscience and this is what I am appealing to,' Mr Winsor added.

On Wednesday Teignbridge issued a statement through Michelle Kenney, its media and communications officer sympathising with Mr Thompson's situation 'following his recent personal loss'.

But Teignbridge was applying legislation that aimed to distribute local housing fairly, based on a criteria of need, she insisted.

'At all times Teignbridge endeavours to protect those in urgent and real need of appropriate shelter, a constant challenge considering the current waiting list of some 2,500 people needing appropriate housing within the district.

'In Mr Thompson's case, his parents were joint tenants of the property, a tenancy that provides only one right of succession. Upon the death of Mr Thompson's father, Mr Thompson's mother succeeded to the tenancy.'

After an enquiry about the future tenancy of the property, Mr Thompson received a personal visit from a Teignbridge housing officer, explaining that in accordance with the Housing Act, he had no legal right to the tenancy.

'He was advised that the council was obliged to issue a notice to

quit in order to protect its

position and that his best course of action would be to seek alternative accommodation.

'Following the visit, he received a further letter from the housing department explaining the situation again. On June 12 an official notice to quit was issued.

'The council does not have to enforce this notice and all representations and facts will be taken into account before a final decision is made,' said Ms Kenney.