A businessman who built a five-bedroom mansion without permission during the pandemic has been ordered to bulldoze it. Gareth Wilson completed the property on his Tennox Farm estate near Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, in 2021.
But Wilson failed to submit formal planning permission to North Ayrshire Council before starting work during the pandemic. Officials ordered him to complete paperwork for the house last March but refused to grant retrospective planning permission months later. He claimed the council enforcement was invalid due to a lack of specification and said it was “excessive”. He had also insisted the decision was against his human rights.
“In the alternative, should alternative accommodation be sought outside the farm, the appellant, by his admission, is of considerable means and as such this would not be an insurmountable obstacle.