Man, 74, fined for refusing to demolish home on green belt

A PENSIONER who has spent 11 years fighting to keep a £500,000 home he illegally built on greenbelt land has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 – and he still has to demolish the house.

Peter Dick, 74, erected the red bricked chalet bungalow on a plot of land he owns in 2010 without getting planning permission.

His application to legalise the property in West Parley, near Bournemouth, Dorset, was denied in 2012.

The site, called Long Croft, is within 400 metres of protected heathland, a special conservation area and a Site of Scientific Special Interest.

Dick ignored legal orders to demolish it in 2012 and 2019, instead fortifying the property with an 8ft high, 20ft long padlocked gate with barbed wire.

He was taken to court by the local council in 2021 and found guilty of failing to knock down his illegal home.

But the property is still standing two years on, prompting a return to Poole magistrates’ court.

Mary Almeida, prosecuting for Bournemouth council, said: “I appreciate it was 11 years ago but there is a long history to this, with numerous planning applications and appeals and extensions to comply with said notice. Mr Dick is still in breach of the notice.”

Dick admitted breaching an enforcement notice under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act by “failing to carry out works to demolish an unauthorised home”. He was issued with a £7,500 fine and told to pay a £190 surcharge and £3,269 costs.

Addressing the court, Dick said: “My wife has muscular dystrophy which is progressive and the layout of the house is designed for her. The older structure, a converted industrial building, does not have facilities for her.”

Sentencing, magistrate chair David Murray said: “You have taken a course of action which has put you on a collision course with council and planning rules.”