Mr Dick has to demolish his house

After 11 years of fighting to keep a £500,000 home illegally built on greenbelt land, a pensioner has been ordered to demolish the house and pay more than £10,000.

 

In 2010, 74-year-old Peter Dick erected the red-bricked chalet bungalow on a plot of land he owns,  without getting planning permission. The site, called Long Croft, is within 400 metres of protected heathland, a special conservation area and a Site of Scientific Special Interest.

 

His application to legalise the property in West Parley, near Bournemouth, Dorset, was denied in 2012. He ignored legal orders to demolish it in 2012 and 2019 and instead fortified the property with an 8ft high, 20ft long padlocked gate with barbed wire.

 

In 2021 the local council took him to court, and he was found guilty of failing to knock down his illegal home. However, 2 years later on, the property is still standing, and Mr Dick was called to return to Poole magistrates' court.

 

Prosecuting for Bournemouth council, Mary Almeida said: "I appreciate it was 11 years ago but there is a long history to this, with numerous planning applications and appeals and extensions to comply with said notice. Mr Dick is still in breach of the notice."  

 

Dick was issued with a £7,500 fine and told to pay a £190 surcharge and £3,269 costs after he admitted breaching an enforcement notice under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act by "failing to carry out works to demolish an unauthorised home."

 

Addressing the court, Dick said: "My wife has muscular dystrophy which is progressive and the layout of the house is designed for her. The older structure, a converted industrial building, does not have facilities for her."

 

"You have taken a course of action which has put you on a collision course with council and planning rules," Magistrate chair David Murray said.