A property developer has been ordered to pay £15,000 in fines and costs after spending £1 million restoring a mansion near Stourbridge – and falling foul of planning red tape.
Russell Stevens told a court he had been involved in a four year “war of attrition” with Wyre Forest District Council about alterations to outbuildings at his 18th-century Park Hall mansion, in Blakedown. He said he felt the council had taken a hard stand, as his wife had been dying of cancer at the time, so he merely told his builder to tidy up the property.
However, Wyre Forest District Council judged that work carried out to convert a dairy and store into a cottage was not appropriate for a listed building and declared the work was unauthorised.
It issued two enforcement notices relating to the former dairy and store and then prosecuted Mr Stevens for failing to comply with them.
Mr Stevens was yesterday ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £15,000 by Judge Richard Rendell at Hereford Crown Court.
“Listed buildings are important to our national heritage and it is important that they are protected and preserved,” the judge said.
Mr Stevens told the court: “They decided to throw as much at me as they could. The costs of this case are potentially four times greater than the fine.
“I accept that we did not properly supervise the work of the builders. My late wife was dying of cancer and we were living in Devon. My brief to the builder was to tidy up that part of the family home which they did.
“Now the buildings in and around my home are in a good state and the work has been done to a good standard. We get nothing but praise for the good state it is in.”
The orginal £22,000 costs bill from the council was more than halved to £10,000 and Mr Stevens was given three months to pay the £5,000 fines and a further three months to pay the costs. He was warned he would serve a three-month prison sentence if he failed to pay.
He told the court that a “war of attrition” had been going on between him and the council for four years. Judge Rendell conceded that counts one and two involving former dairy and storage buildings were as one since the buildings were joined.
4 Comments
Unfortunate that Mr Stevens Wife was ill at the time, but this is no excuse. The project manager (whoever that maybe ?) takes the responsability for all goings on with planning and targets, etc. It appears that there was no project manager and so blame drops squarely to Mr Stevens. If a problem arose and Mr Stevens could not cope, then he should have appointed someone to deal with the affairs. There can be no excuse and Mr Stevens was at fault and so should pay the fine and make good alterations to the property. The total amount over budget, no matter how much alterations cost is down to the owner. Planning permission from any Council is simple, once you have it do everything the Council say you can with work up to their stated standards and in there time span. No problem.
My condolences go to Mr Stevens.
I am on the side of Mr Stevens, The trouble with this country is too many doo gooders and jobs worths. I am sure Mr Stevens has made a fantastic job of his home and has probably improved it preserved it. Council, GET A LIFE.
Martin get in touch with the Parish Council for the full story. Mr Stevens has been continually putting in different planning applications over the last few years. I understand he wants to make the residence into a business (holiday let)and has completed work that should not have been done. Watch the property and see for yourself.
Listed buildings status and fines for breaking this only seems to apply to private citizens. Councils seem to get away with ignoring it. e.g. grade 2 listed building demolished in the centre of Dudley to make a shop in the 60’s.