{"id":2605,"date":"2011-04-12T15:02:06","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T15:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=2605"},"modified":"2011-04-12T15:33:40","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T15:33:40","slug":"home-disguised-as-barn-ruled-%e2%80%98dishonest%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=2605","title":{"rendered":"Home disguised as barn ruled \u2018dishonest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Supreme Court decision that a developer breached planning rules by building a luxury house disguised as a barn on greenbelt land has been backed by housing minister Grant Shapps.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the court ruled against Alan Beesley and his wife Sarah, criticising his \u2018dishonest behaviour\u2019.<\/p>\n

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They now face losing their home near Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.<\/p>\n

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Mr Shapps said: “If you go out of your way to try and deceive the authorities, you can’t expect leniency.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Beesley was granted permission in 2001 to build a barn for agricultural use only, but fitted it out as a luxury house complete with three bedrooms – two with en suite bathrooms – a study, living room, a garage and gym.<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘Dishonest behaviour’<\/span><\/p>\n

From the outside, the property at North Brook Meadow looks like any other hay barn with a curved roof, no windows and surrounded by farmyard machinery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Beesley, 38, and his 35-year-old wife Sarah moved into the completed property in 2002 and applied for a certificate of lawfulness four years later – by which time they believed the time limit of enforcement action had expired.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council refused to provide the certificate and Mr Beesley appealed against its decision in a drawn-out legal process which culminated in the Supreme Court finding in favour of the council.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Supreme Court judge Lord Brown pointed out that the council can \u2018if it thinks it expedient, seek to enforce not merely against the continued use of this building as a dwelling house but additionally against its construction\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0The ruling means the Beesleys can no longer live in the barn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Council chief executive Michel Saminaden said: “From day one, we have taken the view very strongly that people shouldn’t be able to profit from deceitful and dishonest behaviour.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Shapps, the Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield in Hertfordshire, said he wanted to see a faster and more efficient planning system, adding: “The courts have quite correctly spoken on this occasion.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The council said it had not yet decided on what action to take regarding the future of the property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Download the judgement here:<\/span> LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

BBC News: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

Search Planning Portal: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

Daily Mail: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Supreme Court decision that a developer breached planning rules by building a luxury house disguised as a barn on greenbelt land has been backed by housing minister Grant Shapps.   On Wednesday, the court ruled against Alan Beesley and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}