Eco-couple told to pull down their 'hobbit home' made entirely out of natural materials

dailymail ^ | 1 August 2013 | By Stuart Woledge

[dennisw]

Eco-couple told to pull down their 'hobbit home' made entirely out of natural materials . . . but without planning permission

Family of three is made homeless by planning inspector's decision They built their home from scratch, but have been ordered to tear it down The couple admit they built it without first getting planning permission Their labour of love was branded 'harmful' to the countryside

A young couple have been left heartbroken after planners ordered their unique 'hobbit home' to be bulldozed, effectively leaving them homeless.

Charlie Hague and Megan Williams, both 25, built the roundhouse from scratch with their own hands, using only natural materials.

But the couple lost their appeal today against a planning enforcement notice telling them to tear their pride and joy home down.

Charlie and Megan, who have a one-year-old son Eli, built the house on private land in Glandwr, North Pembrokeshire, last summer.

Locals nicknamed it the hobbit home, although most people did not even know it was there because it is so secluded.

But Pembrokeshire County Council ordered the couple to demolish their home because it was built without planning permission.

Charlie and Megan, who live a self-sufficient lifestyle, fought the decision claiming it had a low impact on the environment because of its unique construction.

[rockinqsranch]

BFLR

[Venturer]

They should convert to Islam and call their home a Mosque.

No way would they tear down a Mosque.

[posterchild]

Thanks for the book tip!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

UN Agenda 21 (also Plank #1 of the Communist manifesto); eliminate private property via elimination of private property rights.

[knarf]

I'm looking for my copy.

There's a picture of a staircase that they said was a piece of driftwood found on the California coast.

The pictures in this article show the same brown and white mottled coloring .

The driftwood became a serpentine handrail for a spiral staircase.

If this is not the same house, these Brit kids found identical wood.

I'm intrigued.

[kingu]

Thou shalt not build without permission from the all mighty planning commission, paying the appropriate fees, inspection rates. Thou shalt build your home not for yourself, but for mythical future residents. Thou shalt build your home so it can later be given to another family, entirely at council expense, to be utterly trashed.

I do feel for the family, but if you’re going to not get building permission from the local government, you have to be willing to stand by that decision, and actually fight such requirements, not later file retroactive building permissions.

[jsanders2001]

The guy could make a living doing that. Very talented to say the least.

[SubMareener]

In the Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe, something like this happens just before the Vogons destroy Earth to make room for a hyperspace bypass.

[knarf]

This house didn't just appear out of nowhere.

Didn't someone watch it be built?

Weren't they offended by the shape THEN?

Were they told, "Just wait until it's done, YOU'LL see .. " ... and they did?

Let's analyze this realistically ...

The entire interior is finished with 4 coats of varnish and furnished.

they pissed someone off.,

[kingu]

Realistically, they didn’t pay off the local council, pay the fees and inspections, didn’t include mandated materials and likely didn’t have a licensed contractor doing the work. I mean, geeze, if they let this couple get away with it, it might imply that anyone could decide to build a home and live in it....

It is entirely about control. And the local council didn’t control it, so therefore, the abomination must be destroyed.

[Arlis]

They should legally protest the order to tear down, then hire a professional, licensed architect and structural engineer to analyze the integrity of the building and certify its soundness.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

If you REALLY want to see some eyesores, go west of TAOS, NM. In the flat plains west of the Grand Canyon of the Rio Grande, on the north side of the road, someone is building the most god awful “city” of partially underground “earth friendly” homes.

They looked like rejects from a STAR WARS or Hobbit movie!

Farther to the west are lots for sale. People are buying them, putting in a travel trailers and a coyote fence. Both places are eyesores!

[G Larry]

The decision should be based on engineering factors, not political “you hurt my feelings because you didn’t ask first” factors.

Have them pay the permit and inspection fees and leave them alone.

[Liberty Wins]

Similar thing happened in our county. An elderly man spent years constructing a house for himself to replace the trailer he lived in. Commie inspectors from the planning commission said the ceiling was one-half inch too low, tear it down and start over. He burned it down.

The worst part of it was, nobody appeared at city council meetings to protest their totalitarian rules.

[Haiku Guy]

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals." -- —C. S. Lewis

[Steve_Seattle]

Ok, most of us - I think - recognize that building permits are ok to guarantee the design integrity and safety of a structure, and these people apparently did not go through the process. What to do? They have created a work of art that would be a shame to destroy. Inspect the building retroactively, and if it seems safe, levy a small fine for not getting the permit initially and leave it alone. But, no, the government says to knock it down. This smacks of bully government, government by a**hole, a government of arrogance.

[karnage]

Touche!

[Steve_Seattle]

I have a similar book of unusual, one-off homes built along the Pacific Coast. They are works of art.

[Slyfox]

Maybe Peter Jackson could help them to dismantle it and move it to New Zealand.

[ottbmare]

Ok, most of us - I think - recognize that building permits are ok to guarantee the design integrity and safety of a structure, and these people apparently did not go through the process. What to do? They have created a work of art that would be a shame to destroy. Inspect the building retroactively, and if it seems safe, levy a small fine for not getting the permit initially and leave it alone.

No. I deny the fundamental premise. I do not acknowledge that building permits are necessary to guarantee the design integrity and safety of a structure. They are a tool to assist government with assessments so that property tax revenues are maximized. They are an invasion of privacy. They are a means of exerting control. Anyone in the building trades can tell horror stories about building departments tormenting homeowners and adding many, many unnecessary dollars to construction costs. Adding to construction costs of course means that fewer people can afford to become homeowners and must remain in rental or government-controlled housing. See how that works? Higher property costs + higher taxes = more people unfree and under rigid control.

I'm enough of a libertarian to believe that if I want to build something stupid on my own property, that is my risk and my concern so long as it does not impinge on the value of or use of my neighbors' properties.