A BUILDER who was fined £20, 000 for demolishing a grade two listed, mid 19th century cottage without planning permission has won his four year battle to rebuild it.

David Eckersall was fined £20,000 in early 2017 by a judge at Bradford Crown Court for demolishing Nuttercote Farm, Church Road, Thornton- in -Craven the year before.

At the time, Craven District Council said it had sent out a ‘strong message’ that unauthorised work, resulting in the loss of historic buildings, would not be tolerated.

David and Christina Eckersall’s applications to the council to build a replacement cottage were rejected, on the grounds of it being a ‘new dwelling in the open countryside. A separate application in 2018 to build a dog hydrotherapy pool was also rejected by the council.

Mr and Mrs Eckersall appealed the council’s refusal decisions and also enforcement notices calling for the removal of unauthorised structures including entrance gates, storage buildings, a static caravan and shipping container, and the also the removal of building materials, machinery and equipment and the filling in of excavation trenches.

Following a delayed two day hearing, which finally took place last month, David and Christina Eckersall have now won their appeal to rebuild the cottage, but the appeal for the dog hydrotherapy pool was rejected.

In his appeal decision, planning inspector John Braithwaite, overturned the council’s decisions to do with the cottage and granted both planning and listed building consent.

Mr Braithwaite has however included a number of conditions, including that the cottage be built within three years and that plans for parts of the building, such as the roof, walls and windows, will have to be approved by the council.

He dismissed the appeal for the dog hydrotherapy pool saying that the ‘large building’ with areas of aluminium framed glazing , which would have had its own access off Church Road, would look ‘out of place’ be ‘visually unattractive’ and ‘intrusive’.

In quashing the enforcement notices, Mr Braithwaite said the building materials, machinery and equipment on the site, the shipping container for storage purposes and the static caravan for the Eckersalls to live in, were all needed temporarily for the duration of the building works. In addition, the gates and fencing were reasonably required for security purposes and also required ‘temporarily in connection with and for the duration of the building works’.

Lindsay Dixon, a Solicitor at FTA Law in Leeds, which has acted for the Eckersalls for a number of years in connection with this and other related matters, said: “My clients are delighted to have secured planning permission for the re-building of their property after an extremely challenging few years for them. They now hope to look towards the future and draw a line under this difficult period”.

David Smurthwaite, Strategic Manager for Planning and Regeneration at Craven District Council said: “This has been an extremely complex case, taking place over a number of years. We are pleased that the matter has been concluded and the site can now be developed in accordance with the Planning Inspector’s decision.”