A grieving widow whose spectacular £1 million home featured on Houses Below the Hammer is on the centre of a planning row after it emerged she and her late husband constructed it greater than deliberate and within the improper course.
Angela Vickers and her late husband Ian purchased a 4 acre plot and submitted plans to demolish an previous bungalow in Hampshire and exchange it with an oak-framed, three bed room residence 5 years in the past.
The couple had been ordered to demolish the house after it was discovered to be in breach of its planning software, together with being constructed within the improper place and having an unplanned swimming pool. The choice was later overturned however Angela stays locked in a dispute together with her sad neighbours.
The Houses Below The Hammer episode confirmed Mr Vickers constructing the oak-framed residence himself, full with a ‘superb’ swimming pool to the south, a patio to the north, a storage with an workplace above it, a hen home and a backyard chalet.
Angela Vickers and her late husband Ian spent £250,000 constructing their dream residence however didn’t have correct planning permission
Mr Vickers constructed the oak-framed residence himself, full with a ‘superb’ swimming pool to the south, which didn’t have permission to be constructed
Nevertheless, the completed home – situated in a conservation space in Hampshire’s New Forest – has enraged neighbours after it was constructed 1.2 metres longer than agreed, pointed in a special course and was in a special location to the unique plans.
Neither the swimming pool nor further outbuildings the couple constructed had permission both, it has emerged.
The Vickers initially utilized to differ the planning permission retrospectively to incorporate the swimming pool and the opposite adjustments, however these had been denied and so they had been advised to tear it down.
This was appealed by the Vickers, and in an try to resolve the state of affairs, one other software was submitted and permitted to scale back the constructing’s measurement in July this yr – after Mr Vickers had died – as an alternative of demolition.
However the Vickers’ neighbours are – at present difficult this approval and have referred to as for a judicial evaluation of the planning course of.
Mr and Mrs Vickers purchased the plot and one-storey home in 2017 in Godshill Wooden, New Forest, Hampshire, after the earlier homeowners obtained consent to interchange the previous bungalow with a two-storey property.
On the Houses Below the Hammer present, presenter Lucy Alexander mentioned of the previous home: ‘It seems extra like a glorified shed or a rundown vacation chalet.’
She warned that getting planning permission for his or her residence was going to show tough.
Following Ian’s loss of life, Angela stays locked in a dispute together with her neighbours over the £1 million residence
The couple’s venture was featured on the favored BBC programme Houses Below The Hammer
Neighbours later complained that the home had been constructed dealing with the improper course and was bigger than initially deliberate
However Mrs Vickers boasted of how her husband was going to win over the native authority. ‘I’ll ship Ian in and he will appeal them,’ she mentioned.
When the present revisited the finished venture – wherein an area property agent valued the brand new residence at £1 million – Ms Alexander admired the brand new constructing and was notably impressed by the ‘superb’ pool.
Mr Vickers boasted on the present: ‘There are about 20 oak bushes which have gone into this home – all of the oak framing and stuff, all of the kitchen, doorways in and out, they’ve all been made by us.
‘Lots of job satisfaction in the entire place, actually.’
Nevertheless, it did not take lengthy for native residents to kick up a fuss.
After complaints had been submitted to the native planning authority, an enforcement discover was issued for the constructing to be demolished.
Mrs Vickers, 59, who was left widowed after her husband died aged 75, tried to resolve the state of affairs and managed to influence them to let her cut back the constructing’s measurement fairly than knock it down.
However the Vickers’ neighbours are decided to not let that be the top of the matter.
Mark Atwill, a detailed neighbour claims he’s immediately affected by the sunshine air pollution and overlooking home windows.
He mentioned: ‘It wasn’t achieved considerately. It is within the improper place, and it is the improper measurement. All this further stuff was put in, just like the swimming pool and outbuildings.
After complaints had been submitted to the native planning authority, an enforcement discover was issued for the constructing to be demolished, but it surely has since been overturned
The dream residence changed this run-down cottage on the plan after the homeowners got permission to demolish it
‘The home is chunky. I had dumpster vans driving up subsequent to my home when it was being constructed. No person was advised about it till the session interval was closed. It simply appears to be so odd.
‘He is a conman who’s not round for the backlash. I do not need to communicate sick of the lifeless, however I am unable to consider one other option to put it.’
A male neighbour, who wished to stay nameless, mentioned: ‘It is not private. The home seems good, but it surely should not be there.
‘It was like dwelling close to a warzone when it was being constructed.’
Raymond Clem, who lives on the identical highway, wrote to the New Forest Nationwide Park Planning Authority [NPA] to object to Mrs Vickers’ plan to scale back the home in measurement.
‘As an instantaneous neighbour of this software web site, I’m involved that I didn’t obtain any notification of it from the planning division,’ he mentioned.
‘Since 2016, this web site has been mired in controversy, and a myriad of plans submitted have confused the matter.’
Mrs Christina Folliard, one other neighbour, wrote : ‘I’m conscious there’s an ongoing judicial evaluation into the ridiculous earlier approval wherein the authority u-turned their positions and ignored all the persevering with hurt this growth is inflicting.
‘It is encouraging others with comparable intent to construct no matter they need because the authority clearly has no capability or willingness to forestall or treatment such motion, particularly given this isn’t the primary time these candidates have behaved in corresponding to means.’
However one native, Mr Fletcher, mentioned: ‘A smart answer requiring remedial motion was reached earlier this yr. Let it stand. The extra change required at Paysanne, the higher the disruption to my family.
‘The enforcement order that required demolition of the brand new property was wholly disproportionate to any hurt brought about.
‘All that Mr Vickers had achieved was construct a home and an excellent one at that. There was by no means any subterfuge, the method was open, and he invited all comers to return and see it.’
Mrs Vickers declined to remark.
