Council wins injunction requiring demolition of house built behind straw bales

A council has obtained an injunction requiring a landowner to comply with enforcement notices and demolish a house he built without planning permission and kept hidden behind straw bales.

In the latest stage of a long-running case, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council sought the High Court injunction under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against Robert Fidler of Honeycrock Farm, Salfords.

It requires him to demolish the farmhouse, conservatory, patio and associated features he built in 2000.

Fidler's family moved into the house in 2001 and he removed the straw bales in 2006. He appealed after the council the following year issued an enforcement notice demanding demolition, the defendant arguing that the house had stood for four years without anyone objecting to it.

A planning inspector upheld the enforcement notice in 2008 and his approach was backed by the High Court in 2010.

Deputy High Court judge Sir Thayne Forbes said in his ruling: “In my view, the inspector’s findings of fact make it abundantly clear that the erection/removal of the straw bales was an integral – indeed an essential – fundamentally related part of the building operations that were intended to deceive the local planning authority and to achieve by deception lawful status for a dwelling built in breach of planning control.”

The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the council in September 2011, with Fidler being given a year in which to demolish the house. He failed to do so, leading to further applications and now the injunction.

A spokeswoman for Reigate & Banstead said: “The council has obtained a High Court injunction by consent requiring Mr Fidler to demolish the unauthorised house that he originally concealed behind straw bales over several years, along with its associated features that he built without planning permission in the Green Belt.

“Mr Fidler has 90 days to demolish the house its associated development, subject to the outcome of his one outstanding planning appeal lodged earlier that day (13 June 2014).

She added: “The High Court’s decision supports our view that if the house and its related constructions are allowed to remain it would set an unacceptable precedent for development in the Green Belt nationwide.”

The High Court ordered Fidler to pay costs of £7,000 to the council.
 
Stephen Whale of Landmark Chambers acted for Reigate & Banstead.