Castle owner fights enforcement notice
The owner of Midford Castle may have to tear down a twostorey building on his land after a planning enforcement notice from Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Kenneth Scott Adams was granted permission in 2019 to build a single-storey agricultural barn beside the coach-house and greenhouse at Midford Castle.
Plans showed how the structure would be mostly underground, with a wildflower meadow on its roof.
The L-shaped space would have had timber sliding doors on the two visible sides, leading into a timber storage space and room for two hot water storage tanks.
However, in August, Mr Adams was served with a planning enforcement notice from the local authority.
The notice set out three areas in which the landowner was thought to be in “breach” of his planning permission. These areas were:
■ Without planning permission, unauthorised engineering works to reprofile land to facilitate, without planning permission, the erection of a two-storey, semi-subterranean building;
■ Without planning permission, unauthorised engineering works to reprofile and level land to form a hardstanding area;
■ Without planning permission, the unauthorised formation of an access track to the hard standing.
Our sister website, Bath Live, was contacted by an anonymous source who attached a photograph (see above), which they said showed the building in question. The council’s planning
department has since confirmed that the image is of the “two-storey semi-subterranean building” mentioned in the enforcement notice.
Mr Adams has now appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to reverse the notice.
He did this on October 6 and set out his reasons for the appeal. These were as follows:
■ That planning permission should be granted for what is alleged in the notice
■ That the time given to comply with the notice is too short
■ The steps required to comply with the requirements of the notice are excessive, and lesser steps would overcome the objections
■ That there has not been a breach of planning control
■ That the breach of control alleged in the enforcement notice has not occurred as a matter of fact.
After approval of his singlestorey subterranean barn in 2019, Mr Adams went on to apply for permission to build an “agricultural barn” and to install “a stand-alone solar array system to service the Midford Castle Estate”. This was refused.
Around the same time, he was renovating the Grade Ii*-listed coach house, greenhouse, basement and offices, with plans to turn them into residential and holiday accommodation.
However, his joinery details namely new, thicker windows on the coach house and greenhouse - were served with a planning enforcement notice by the local authority.
Mr Adams also appealed to the Planning Inspectorate on that occasion and said the new windows would be more energy efficient and help the coach house and greenhouse last longer.
However, following a site visit by the inspector, his appeal was dismissed as “the evidence suggest[ed] that both these things may be achievable with more sympathetic, slimmer detailing.”
If you wish to make comments on Mr Adams’ most recent appeal, you can do so online at: https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk.
If you do not have access to the internet, you can send your comments to The Planning Inspectorate, 3/26 Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Bristol, BS1 6PN by Thursday, November 17, 2022.