Sarah Beeny has held showdown talks with the council over her illegally built ‘mini-Downton Abbey’ home after officials ordered for it to be torn down.
The presenter has been locked in a six-year battle with local residents and Somerset Council over planning applications to completely overhaul the rural estate she bought for £3million in 2018.
She has been documenting the progress on the Channel 4 series Sarah Beeny’s New Life In The Country.
The 53-year-old had initially agreed to knock down the original 1970s farmhouse in the village of Stoney Stoke to make way for a seven-bedroom mansion.
But, without planning permission, she went ahead with extending the building instead.
She later applied for retrospective permission, which was refused, and she also lost her appeal in March.
There is currently a live enforcement notice for the home to be razed to the ground.
Although, the council has previously said that any demolition work would have to be sensitive to a bat roost.
Sarah Beeny has held showdown talks with the council over her illegally built ‘mini-Downton Abbey’ home after officials ordered for it to be torn down
Four years after agreeing to knock down an original 1970s farmhouse, Ms Beeny went ahead with extending the building without permission instead
The Property Ladder host Sarah Beeny (pictured) has been fighting a long-running battle with local residents and Somerset Council over her ‘mini Downton Abbey home’
A Somerset Council spokesperson has since revealed that a meeting has taken place in which a ‘clear list of actions’ was agreed.
They said: ‘We can confirm that officers have met the owners of the land and their representatives.
‘As a result of this meeting, a clear list of actions and a timetable for implementing these actions has been agreed.’
When pushed on whether this means Ms Beeny will have to tear down the property, the spokesperson refused to confirm either way.
They added: ‘We do not ordinarily disclose specific actions in ongoing cases due to the sensitivity of discussions, only to confirm broader activity.’
The local authority’s visit to Ms Beeny’s home involved a specialist team including enforcement officers and ecological experts.
It said: ‘We are working with an ecologist with the appropriate licences to assist us as a result of a bat roost being found in the original dwelling to ensure we can be clear in terms of what mitigation would be required and acceptable.’
Ms Beeny has infuriated locals by putting in a number of planning applications to overhaul her estate – with one fed-up resident comparing her to Captain Tom Moore’s daughter.
Hannah Ingram-Moore built an illegal spa complex at her house in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, claiming it was partly being used by her late father’s charity, but the council ordered her to tear it down.
Neighbour Kevin Flint, 73, a retired IT worker, said the unauthorised buildings should be torn down
Ms Beeny has infuriated locals by putting in a number of planning applications to overhaul her estate
Neighbour Kevin Flint said: ‘It’s created a lot of bad feeling in the village.
‘She was given permission to build the new house on condition she knocked down the old one which she extended and refurbished, it’s just not on.
‘She thinks she can move down here and ride roughshod over everybody but it’s not going to happen.
‘I think the fair thing would be for anything unauthorised on the site to be demolished like Captain Tom’s daughter.’
The latest row follows a lengthy two-year battle Ms Beeny had in 2022 to keep a James Bond-style treehouse at her sprawling estate.
She built the plush log cabin using deadwood from the former dairy farm with her children lending a helping hand.
She also built a thatched boathouse and greenhouse without the council’s go-ahead and was facing possible enforcement action to demolish the unauthorised structures.
She applied for retrospective consent and was granted a ‘change of use’ of the former agricultural land to extend her garden.
Officials at the local council gave the green light despite objections from the local parish council who said the extension was too big.
Meanwhile, last year, she was forced to make a U-turn on plans to convert two barns into four new homes after local objections.
Six complained about the proposed development, accusing her of ‘riding roughshod’ over planning laws.
They also said she had ‘blatantly ignored’ an enforcement notice ordering her to remove earth banks built without planning permission.
