Planning battle defeat for White Stuff boss
THE founder of the White Stuff fashion and lifestyle brand faces having to tear down a building, skateboard park and tennis court he built without permission in a Devon beauty spot.
Sean Thomas built a two-storey double garage on farmland behind his house at Gerston Point in the South Hams.
The site is in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and alongside the Salcombe to Kingsbridge Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The house at Gerston Point was itself built after a controversial planning application in 2011, on the site of a bungalow formerly owned by the environmentalist Tony Soper, cofounder of the BBC’s famous Natural History Unit.
That development was finally approved in 2012 after some scaling back of the original plans.
Mr Thomas and his wife later acquired an adjoining strip of agricultural land to build a tennis court, skate park and garage, which was finished in 2016. They submitted a retrospective application for change of use of the land with carport and storage building after a complaint to the council from a resident in nearby West Alvington.
Now planners have rejected the application and Mr Thomas and his wife are to be told that the land must be returned to its former condition.
Although the planning application was for a “car port and storage” only, the planners say he will also have to remove the building and engineering work for the tennis court and skate ramp.
They have eight weeks to appeal against the decision. Stopher Design Partnership, the agent, refused to
This should serve as a stark reminder that no one is above the law SOUTH HAMS SOCIETY
comment, but confirmed that the property is still owned by Sean Thomas, co-founder of The White Stuff.
The South Hams Society welcomed the decision, saying: “The refusal and referral for enforcement action is absolutely the right decision. This should serve as a stark reminder that no one is above the law.”
Cllr Judy Pearce, leader of South Hams District Council, who represents West Alvington, said: “What they’ve done isn’t acceptable. Everybody has to respect planning policy.”
White Stuff’s website boasts that “We spend a lot of time figuring out how to do minimal damage to the world around us .... We’re investing time and money to help us work in environmentally friendly ways.”
The WMN has tried to contact White Stuff for a comment from Mr Thomas but has not received a response.
The planning decision says that the development “represents an unwelcome and incongruous intrusion into an undeveloped countryside location that is within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Undeveloped Coast”.
The building results in “significant adverse impacts to the natural beauty, special qualities, distinctive character, landscape and scenic beauty of the South Devon AONB”.
South Hams Cabinet member Cllr Nicky Hopwood said: “The application was dealt with in accordance with planning policy, as it would have been considered before the works were carried out. If the owners of the property do submit an appeal, they will be doing so at their own expense.”