A couple are leaving Britain for Thailand after the council forced them to demolish their million-pound home.
Jeremy Zielinski, 75, and his wife Elaine, 80, have spent the past several weeks dismantling their three-bedroom property in Great Abington in Cambridge piece by piece, after a planning inspector upheld the local council’s enforcement notice ordering its demolition.
South Cambridgeshire District Council granted the couple permission in 2014 to build a two-storey commercial building to house a stallion semen collection centre and laboratory, with a small first-floor flat for staff.
The exterior of the property matched the approved plans, but the interior was fitted out as a comfortable family home.
It had been completed with a kitchen with an island breakfast bar, a living room, dining area, home office and two upstairs bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and a lounge equipped with a sofa and television.
Planning inspector Chris Preston concluded the property had a “decidedly residential appearance” and rejected the couple’s appeal, finding it had been built as a house from the outset rather than converted from the approved commercial use, the Daily Mail reports.
He also noted there was “very little evidence that the stallion semen collection and analysis business ever got off the ground to any notable degree”, with the only recorded payment for laboratory services being £44 for a horse named Dublin.
The couple had sold their own home in 2019 and moved into a static home on the land, believing they were entitled to live in the property while operating the business from the ground floor.
The house, called Valentine Stables, has stated being demolished after it not being used as its proposed purpose of a stallion semen labratory
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CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNCIL
They argued that the Covid-19 lockdown had destroyed their plans for the clinic and forced them to use the building as their home, but Mr Preston rejected that account, concluding the breach of planning rules had been clear and flagrant.
Rather than a full demolition, the Zielinskis struck a deal with a contractor to carefully dismantle the building and salvage usable materials including timber frames, windows and bifold doors, saving around £2,000 on an estimated demolition cost of £30,000.
Work began in early April with scaffolding erected around the building, followed within days by the removal of the roof and by this week the first floor had been stripped away, leaving only the skeleton of the structure standing.
The couple expect the work to be completed by the end of this month, after council officers visited and indicated they were satisfied with the progress being made.
Planning inspector Chris Preston there was ‘very little evidence that the stallion semen collection and analysis business ever got off the ground’
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GETTY
Once the property is gone and they have sold their stables and the land they stand on, the Zielinskis expect to be left with no more than £350,000 to put towards a new home.
That figure, they say, rules out remaining in the UK and also rules out moving to Australia, where they have a daughter and four grandchildren.
Mr Zielinski told the Mail: “We’ve got to sell our stables for a pittance to be able to buy somewhere to live but we couldn’t afford anywhere in this country, so we’re going to Thailand.”
He remains deeply bitter about the outcome, saying that everyone he has spoken to considers the decision “absolutely ludicrous” given that the original planning permission was granted for the physical building as it stands.
He added: “They say the housing situation is desperate and they are making you pull down your home without recourse.”
The couple believe a neighbour informed on them, leading to planning officers visiting and the issuing of an enforcement notice in July 2023.
Mrs Zielinski had previously said she was unaware they were breaking the law, saying: “We would not have gone on and built this and put all our money into it unless we thought it was totally legal to do it.”
Mr Zielinski said the death of their daughter Claire, aged 55, in 2021 after taking the Covid vaccine had “taken the wind out of our sails for fighting an enforcement notice”.
Local opinion has been largely unsympathetic.
One woman in her 50s said: “They were given permission, they ignored the permission and it had to go. How can they say that was unfair?”
Another resident said: “If you let something like that go, where does it end?”
There has been some sympathy, however, with one neighbour, David Hamper, 61, saying he felt “genuinely sorry” for the couple, acknowledging that while the rules had been flouted, being told by neighbours to pull down your home was “a hard thing to see”.
Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins, the council’s former lead cabinet member for planning, welcomed the inspector’s decision, saying: “This case shows the importance of adhering to the specific uses and conditions that justify development in rural areas. Planning rules are there for a reason – including protecting our countryside.”
A council spokeswoman confirmed that while the original demolition deadline of May 6 had not been met, the council would not take further action provided the work was completed by the end of May.