Fashion boss set to appeal his planning refusal

THE founder of the White Stuff fashion and lifestyle brand is considering a challenge to a planning rule that could force him to tear down a building, skateboard park and tennis court he built without permission in a Devon beauty spot.

As reported in the WMN yesterday, 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.

Mr Thomas and his wife acquired an adjoining strip of agricultural land to build the tennis court, skate park and garage, which was finished in 2016.

They submitted a retrospective application for change of use of land to domestic use 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.

The planning application was for a “car port and storage” only, but planners say he will also have to remove the building and engineering work for the tennis court and skate ramp.

Mr Thomas told the WMN: “I’ve been advised to appeal and am hopeful that if I do there may be a successful outcome, but it would be wrong to discuss it in detail until it is complete.

“I and my family very much appreciate the special nature of Gerston Point and feel privileged to have lived there for the past seven years or more.”