Tear down my ultimate man cave? Never!
Millionaire in court over 10,000 sq ft mini Las Vegas
GRAHAM Wildin spent a year creating his own little Las Vegas in his back garden in Gloucestershire. And he’s not giving it up without a fight.
The millionaire accountant built the ultimate in ‘man caves’ –a 10,000 sq ft leisure complex with a bowling alley, 16- seat cinema, squash courts, casino and bar.
Convinced he had found a loophole in planning laws, he did not get plannin permission. He claims the views from neighbouring homes are largely unaffected because his structure is partly sunk 18ft into the ground.
But his neighbours did not agree, and expressed their outrage to local planners. When faced with an official order to demolish his pride and joy by July 7 last year, he resolutely ignored it and is now facing a High Court trial.
Planners at Forest of Dean council say his ‘bulky structure’ is ‘totally out of scale and proportion with the surrounding development’.W
Mr Wildin, who has five grandchildren, had the complex built in the garden of his six-bedroom mansion in Cinderford, Gloucs. It was completed in 2014 after a year-long build, and he has not revealed how much it cost.
He claims he looked carefully at local planning regulations and believed he was taking advantage of a loophole that allows the construction of buildings that do not spoil anyone else’s view.
But as well as angering his neighbours with the unauthorised building, he has also been embroiled in bitter rows over boundary disputes and a fence between properties.
One neighbour, Garry Thomas, 37, built a 12ft-wide wooden fence so he didn’t have to look at the extension.
Mr Wildin claimed the £300 fence encroached on to his own land but Mr Thomas says his deeds show it lies within his boundary.
Things escalated when Mr Wildin tore down the fence in a scene filmed by Mr Thomas’s partner last year. The footage shows Mr Wildin rocking the fence backwards and forwards before climbing on to a ledge. He kicks the fence aggressively and is seen throwing a black plastic bin at the person filming.
A showdown in the case is now due to be heard in the High Court in Cardiff over two days in September.