Property developer wins planning battle over disguised barn home

A property developer yesterday won his battle to outwit planning officials by building a £500,000 home disguised as a barn on protected green belt land.

Alan Beesley and his wife Sarah had faced eviction from their two-storey house, but yesterday the Court of Appeal restored a ruling that the couple had acted within the law.

Mr Beesley was granted permission to build a barn for agricultural use only, but fitted it out as a luxury house complete with three bedrooms, a study, bathroom, lounge, reception area, storeroom and gym.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

From the outside, the property, North Brook Meadow near Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, looks like any other hay barn with a curved roof, no windows and surrounded by farmyard machinery.

The couple used a legal loophole which grants a certificate of lawfulness to homeowners who have lived in a property for more than four years – even if they failed to obtain the correct planning permission.

High Court judge Mr Justice Andrew Collins branded the deception a fraud in a ruling in April last year and gave Welwyn Hatfield Council the chance to decide whether or not they wanted to evict the pair.

But a panel of three appeal judges yesterday ruled the couple were within the law and had achieved immunity for the use of the building as a dwelling.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lord Justice Mummery said in his ruling: "It is a surprising outcome which decent law-abiding citizens will find incomprehensible: a public authority, deceived into granting planning permission by a dishonest planning application, can be required by law to issue an official certificate to the culprit consolidating the fruits of the fraud."

Lord Justice Richards said the case was a lesson for local planning authorities. Mr Beesley admitted that he deliberately deceived the council when he applied for permission.