An aged farmer has been threatened by a council for refusing to pay a superb over an “historic” boundary wall he constructed himself greater than 50 years in the past.
Ron Knight, 89, has confronted seven years of a “residing nightmare” since receiving a planning enforcement discover from the council for eradicating a part of a concrete wall in 2017 to permit entry to his land.
Regardless of constructing the unique wall himself in 1973, he was instructed that he wanted planning permission as a result of it was “historic”, and in a “conservation” space.
After lacking the deadline to attraction, the pensioner has appeared in court docket a number of occasions and has even been threatened with a jail time period.
Mr Knight vowed to go to jail as an alternative even “if it was the very last thing” he does, quite than pay a superb of practically £3,000.
He has now been threatened with enforcement motion with letters stating bailiffs might raid his house and take away objects to reclaim the losses.
The escalation has left Mr Knight’s spouse Jean, 81, fraught with anxiousness.
However Mr Knight stated the choice was “ridiculous” and vowed to dam any try and entry his house.
He stated: “I’ve now received a letter from the bailiffs saying they’ll come and take what they have been owed in lieu of fines.
“The entire thing is ridiculous. I can’t make out how this has ended up going to court docket within the first place.”
Pension deduction
Mr Knight stated he reluctantly agreed to an order from a choose on the newest listening to to take £5 a month from his pension.
However he was later knowledgeable this couldn’t be performed so was instructed he wanted to go to a publish workplace to pay it off every time – a visit that at his age, he maintains he was unable to do.
He added: “I’ve been to court docket so many occasions I’ve misplaced depend. Final time, a choose requested me how I used to be going to pay, I instructed them I couldn’t. They requested if I might be keen to have £5 a month come out of my pension.
“I stated ‘sure’ and all the things went forward. Then I received a letter saying they might now not take it out of my pension and despatched me a card to go to the publish workplace.
“I’m not doing that. The settlement with the choose is that they might take it out of my pension. That’s how it will be.”
Six-year planning dispute is over Ron Knight pulling down a part of a wall he constructed so he can entry his personal property – Daniel Dayment, SWNS
Final yr, Mr Knight was instructed by a choose that he might face 45 days in jail until he rebuilt the wall and repaid all fines.
However Mr Knight, who maintains his pleas have continued to fall on deaf ears, stated he would quite be locked up “if it’s the very last thing he does” than settle for he has performed something mistaken.
He stated: “It’s getting us all down. We’re all sick and drained and fed up. It doesn’t matter what we are saying, they don’t take any discover.”
Mr Knight moved to Milborne Port, in Somerset, in 1957 and acquired Cannon Court docket Farm along with his two brothers round 5 years later.
When he bought it to retire to Devon in 1990 he saved six acres of land and three acres of allotments.
‘Blocked entry’
Rows then started along with his neighbours who he claimed had “blocked entry” to his land and his “proper of method” by their very own developments.
To permit him entry to keep up the realm and cease it changing into overgrown, he stated he had no alternative however to take away a part of the wall.
Somerset Council has defended its actions and refused to think about his retrospective software whereas enforcement motion stays ongoing.
His spouse Jean, 81, stated: “We’ve got simply had a letter that management enforcement brokers might come and take management of our items.
“My husband is in his ninetieth yr. However this has extra impression on me – he’s simply not going to pay it.
“He can’t even stroll right down to the publish workplace. It’s not often open anyway and is a variety of all-round problem.
“They don’t hear anyway. It’s virtually laughable the entire scenario however we’ve got to stay with it on a regular basis. We’ve got by no means owed a penny in our lives and have at all times paid up entrance. That’s how we have been introduced up. However the system will not be working.”
Mr Knight has lived along with his spouse in Bampton, Devon, since promoting the farm in Somerset.
He added: “My argument is that if that wall was ours in 1973, it’s our wall now. Why are they kicking up a risky fuss? All we did was take down a component to make an entrance into our property we had no different method of entering into.
“I’m not paying it – why ought to I, if it belongs to me. I don’t care what they are saying or what they do.”
Somerset Council stated it was within the public curiosity to proceed pursuing the matter, arguing that Mr Knight had prompted “unjustified hurt” to a protected native construction.
A council spokesman stated: “We’ve got utilized the expediency check and public curiosity check to every step of this case.
“We take into account that the creation of the entry, necessitating the demolition or elimination of a large part of the historic stone wall and related engineering work to the land behind, fails to safeguard the established character of the conservation space and has prompted unjustified hurt to a chosen heritage asset.”
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