Private Eye on Tony's Roundhouse

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Private Eye on Tony's Roundhouse

 
Taken from:
Nooks and Corners,
Private Eye No.1104,
16th-29th April 2004

By Piloti

The Roundhouse at Brithdir Mawr in Pembrokeshire, built by Tony Wrench
and Jane Faith in 1997-98 is an ''ecohome'', made of a wood frame,
recycled windows and a straw-insulated turf roof which uses solar
power. It has a compost toilet and cost some £3,000 to build.

Unlike the brick and concrete houses which will gobble energy and
generate pollution and which John Prescott and the government want to
cover both sides of the Thames estuary, the Roundhouse has virtually
no impact on the landscape. Indeed, nobody even knew it was there
until it was seen from the air by an official from the Pembrokeshire
Coast National Park Authority. The problem is that, although it was
built at the invitation in setting up an environmentally sustainable
community, the house is illegal and must be demolished this month.

After his quiet rural life was spotted, Mr Wrench applied for planning perm=
ission to have the house classified as an agricultural worker's cottage, whi=
ch is essentially what it is. But the local authority's development control =
officer Catherine Milner has made it her mission to have the Roundhouse dest=
royed.

The advice of the county council's estates department to give a
temporary permission for three years was not reported to the planning
committee, which itself was strongly discouraged from visiting the
site. After an appeal, the case was to be assessed by the Welsh
planning inspectorate as it was a ''novel planning issue''. But Ms
Milner persuaded them it was merely a case of someone trying to put up
a cheap house in the countryside illegally and an inspector decided
the Roundhouse was ''visually intrusive'' and causes ''demonstrable
harm'', though what harm has never been demonstrated (for the full
story, see www.brithdirmawr.com).

This is not just a case of some ageing hippies quarrelling with the
system; nor of a nasty oversized bungalow being built without planning perm=
ission. In the context of global warming and the threat to cover much of the=
 English countryside with energy-inefficient new houses, the Brithdir-Mawr e=
xperiment may offer useful lessons. The case says much about the power and a=
ttitudes of many planning officers and other bureaucrats.

If it were proposed today, would Portmeirion, that famous picturesque
fantasy Merionethshire coast which used many recycled bits of old
buildings, ever receive planning permission" I doubt it. It's
creator, Clough Williams-Ellis, was also interested in building cheap
cottages made of pise-de-terre (mud) and fought passionately to
prevent the countryside - both English and Welsh - from being ruined.
I have no doubt the great Sir Clough would be on the side of Jane
Faith and Tony Wrench and their admirable Roundhouse.