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Sarah Beeny in new council row over seven-bed ‘mini Downton Abbey’ after plans to knock down 1970s mansion for new home
A parish council says Sarah and her husband are 'in breach of their legally binding agreement'
SARAH Beeny has sparked a fresh row with planners in a last-ditch bid to stop her Somerset farmhouse from being bulldozed - blaming rare bats for not moving out.
The TV presenter, 52, says there is "no guarantee" the endangered species will vacate their roost in the roof of the four-bedroom pad and argues it would be better to retain the building to protect them.
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But council officials say the property expert and husband Graham Swift are in breach of a "legally binding agreement" stating the farmhouse would be demolished.
Sarah, best known for TV show Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country, originally planned to knock down the 1970s building to make way for a new seven-bedroom mansion dubbed a "mini Downton Abbey".
But plans were scrapped after serotine bats, particularly rare in Somerset, were found roosting in the roof.
Bats are a protected species and it is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act to disturb, damage, destroy or obstruct access to their roost.
READ MORE ON SARAH BEENY
PLANNING 'BREACH'
In a letter of objection, the parish council said "nothing has changed" since the decision to demolish the building was made in 2020.
The letter says: "When (the applicants) wanted to knock down the old farmhouse in order to secure consent to build a new one, one of the arguments they deployed was that they were building a new home for the bats in the new farmhouse.
"Now that they want to retain the old farmhouse, they are arguing that there was never any guarantee the bats would have decamped to the new house anyway.
"The applicants are currently in breach of their legally binding agreement that the existing farmhouse should be demolished and the site reinstated to form part of the agricultural land within the farm agricultural holding.
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"This planning condition was put in place in order to mitigate the impact of the development on the local community and infrastructure. Nothing has changed."
In a statement, Sarah's planning agent said: "Whilst it is noted that accommodation requiring roosting space to be provided in the garage associated with [the new house] was secured under the extant scheme, there is no guarantee the serotine bats would move to this location.
"It is therefore necessary to consider the benefits of the proposed retention of the original farmhouse, preserving the roost in situ.
"It is generally in sound condition although requires refurbishment to bring it up to modern standards."
RECENT ROWS
Sarah first sparked a row with locals when she dumped tonnes of soil from an excavated lake in a field at her 220-acre former dairy farm.
She is still facing possible enforcement action over the unauthorised earth mounds as well as an "alpine winter wonderland" tree-house built without consent.
Now, she has landed in hot water again over a timber-clad home office extension to the old farmhouse built without planning permission six years ago.
Papers filed at her local council state that building work started in September 2018, but has not been completed.
Sarah has applied for retrospective consent and also wants to build a "modest" first floor balcony and a new "picture" window to give her views of a nearby historic landmark.
Beeny, who is battling breast cancer, snapped up the estate for £3million in 2018 and her New Life in the Country series has been charting the extensive re-development.
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Officials are expected to make a decision next month.
No objections from neighbours have been submitted so far.
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