Look Who's Talking
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Common-sense draws the short straw in all of this
WHILST we all know that parking restrictions, planning regulations and by-laws generally are designed to be for the benefit of society at large rather than the individual, there are occasions when citizens who try to circumvent the rules earn our sympathy and grudging respect.
I suspect that I am not alone in harbouring such feelings for Robert Fidler, a farmer in Surrey, who evidently believes that an Englishman's home should be his castle.
Wearied by years of frustration in his attempts to persuade local planners to sanction a home for him and his family on his farmland, he devised what Blackadder's servant Baldrick would undoubtedly describe as a cunning plan. He built a castle.
He built it behind a 40 foot barricade of hundreds of bales of straw. He then lived in it for four years with his wife and baby son, who grew up looking out of his bedroom window at - straw.
That is until his resourceful papa removed the bales and exposed to the gaze of the world the castle that was now his home. Naturally, outraged locals informed the local authority.
There will always be someone who is outraged, whatever you do. Mr Fidler (even his name brings a smile) was served with a demolition notice.
He declined on the established legal basis that he it had been "substantially completed" for four years. He applied to the council for a Certificate of Lawfulness, which can be sought after a development has been in place for at least four years without planning permission. The council however ruled that the bales had prevented them from knowing it was there and therefore he has to demolish it.
A neighbour predictably, and inarguably, declared, "Everyone else has to abide by planning laws, so why shouldn't they?" Yes that is true. But wouldn't the world be much more fun if the occasional fiddler attracted the occasional official blind eye and sense of humour.
I believe a "straw" poll of citizens might well consider that our intrepid farmer has earned a little admiration and deserves some leeway.
The castle, judging from the photographs in the press, is undeniably splendid and invites very favourable comparison with some of the awful residences that planners do sanction throughout our rural landscape.
But sadly we all know deep down that he can't win.
As the saying goes - "You can't beat city hall." More's the pity.
7:11pm Thursday 6th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: Pete, Perth, Australia on 10:50pm Thu 6 Mar 08
It's a shame this farmer can't simply achieve approval by having some building inspectors check it over and pass it has fit for human habitation (or suggest remedies until it reaches those standards).
While it's romantic to cheer the a man who's built his own castle, it'd be wise to make sure his family aren't crushed underneath a tonne's worth of substandard concrete and rocks, electrocuted by home-made wiring, or otherwise harmed through inadequate design.
It's a shame this farmer can't simply achieve approval by having some building inspectors check it over and pass it has fit for human habitation (or suggest remedies until it reaches those standards).
While it's romantic to cheer the a man who's built his own castle, it'd be wise to make sure his family aren't crushed underneath a tonne's worth of substandard concrete and rocks, electrocuted by home-made wiring, or otherwise harmed through inadequate design.
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