I’m fuming over my neighbour’s £1m Homes Under the Hammer house – they built it 1.2m too big and don’t care
RESIDENTS have been left fuming over their neighbour’s £1million Homes Under the Hammer house which they claim is too big.
Angela Vickers, 59, is at the centre of a countryside planning row after it emerged she and her late husband Ian had built their abode in Hampshire’s New Forest without permission.
The couple bought a four acre plot and submitted plans to demolish an old bungalow and replace it with a three-bed home five years ago.
They spent £250,000 building their dream home which featured on Series 18 of the popular BBC series and included the couple being interviewed by presenter Lucy Alexander.
Homes Under the Hammer even showed Mr Vickers building the oak-framed home himself, complete with a “glorious” swimming pool to the south.
It also had a patio to the north, a garage with an office above it, a hen house and a garden chalet.
But the finished house enraged neighbours after it was built 1.2 metres longer than agreed, pointed in a different direction and was in a different location to the original plans.
Neither the swimming pool nor extra outbuildings the couple built had permission either, it has emerged.
The Vickers initially applied to vary the planning permission retrospectively to include the swimming pool and the other changes, but these were denied and they were ordered to tear it down.
The couple appealed this, and another application was submitted and approved to reduce the building’s size in July this year – after Mr Vickers had died – instead of demolition.
But the Vickers’ neighbours are currently challenging this approval and have called for a judicial review of the planning process.
On the Homes Under the Hammer show, presenter Lucy Alexander warned that getting planning permission for their home was going to prove tricky.
But Mrs Vickers boasted of how her husband was going to win over the local authority.
She said: “I’m going to send Ian in and he’s going to charm them.”
And it didn’t take long for local residents to kick up a fuss.
After complaints were submitted to the local planning authority, an enforcement notice was issued for the building to be demolished.
Mrs Vickers, who was left widowed after her husband died aged 75, tried to resolve the situation and managed to persuade them to let her reduce the building’s size rather than knock it down.
But the Vickers’ neighbours are determined not to let that be the end of the matter.
Mark Atwill, a close neighbour, claims he is directly affected by the light pollution and overlooking windows.
He said: “It wasn’t done considerately. It’s in the wrong place, and it’s the wrong size. All this extra stuff was put in, like the swimming pool and outbuildings.
“The house is chunky. I had dumpster trucks driving up next to my house when it was being built. Nobody was told about it until the consultation period was closed. It just seems to be so odd.”
A male neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, complained about living near the house being built.
He said: “It’s not personal. The house looks nice, but it shouldn’t be there.
“It was like living near a warzone when it was being built.”
“It was like living near a warzone when it was being built.”
Anonymous male neighbour
Raymond Clem, who lives on the same road, wrote to the New Forest National Park Planning Authority to object to Mrs Vickers’ plan to reduce the house in size.
“As an immediate neighbour of this application site, I am concerned that I did not receive any notification of it from the planning department,” he said.
“Since 2016, this site has been mired in controversy, and a myriad of plans submitted have confused the matter.”
Christina Folliard, another neighbour, wrote : “I am aware there is an ongoing judicial review into the ridiculous previous approval in which the authority u-turned their positions and ignored all of the continuing harm this development is causing.
“It’s encouraging others with similar intent to build whatever they want as the authority clearly has no ability or willingness to prevent or remedy such action, especially given this is not the first time these applicants have behaved in such as way.”
However, one local, Mr Fletcher, said: “A sensible solution requiring remedial action was reached earlier this year. Let it stand.
“The more change required at Paysanne, the greater the disruption to my household.
“The enforcement order that required demolition of the new property was wholly disproportionate to any harm caused.
“All that Mr Vickers had done was build a house and a good one at that. There was never any subterfuge, the process was open, and he invited all comers to come and see it.”
When Homes Under the Hammer revisited the completed project – in which a local estate agent valued the new home at £1 million – Ms Alexander admired the new building and was particularly impressed by the “amazing” pool.
Mr Vickers boasted on the show at the time: “There are about 20 oak trees which have gone into this house – all the oak framing and stuff, all the kitchen, doors inside and out, they’ve all been made by us.
“A lot of job satisfaction in the whole place, really.”
Mrs Vickers declined to comment.