Wakefield Council has ordered a homeowner to remove a four-foot resin gorilla mounted to the front of her terraced house, saying the figure is "out of character with the surrounding area" and may have caused harm to the greenbelt. The owner, 58-year-old Adele Teale, has appealed the enforcement notice, meaning the order will not take effect while the appeal is pending.
Teale, who calls the figure "Caesar," erected the 4-kilogram ornament on a wooden plinth between the two upstairs windows of her two-bedroom house in Stanley in December, after buying it back in August. She said Caesar had previously stood on the outside of her former home in Belle Isle, Leeds, for 15 years without issue and that neighbours and passersby regularly stop to look at the statue.
Wakefield Council's planning service first wrote to Teale on May 27 after receiving a complaint about an "animal structure" on her property, advising that she may have required planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Teale said she attempted to contact the council by phone several times but received no response before an enforcement notice was served on July 10 ordering the statue's removal. She lodged an appeal on Aug. 11.
The enforcement notice described the gorilla as "not a minor decorative feature but ... a prominent, eye-catching structure" that is "out of character with the surrounding area," calling it "an obtrusive feature on the residential street" and saying it had "caused harm to the greenbelt" and negatively affected the local landscape. Joe Jenkinson, Wakefield Council's service director for planning, transportation and strategic highways, said planning rules do not classify the statue as a minor decorative feature and that it therefore requires permission.
Teale rejected those assertions, saying Caesar is simply an ornament that brings her and local children pleasure. "I own the house, it's mine, so surely I can have whatever I want outside to decorate it," she said, adding that the binmen shout "Save Caesar" as they pass. Teale said she paid about £600 to repurchase the statue in August and that it was secured to the plinth with screws and glue. She said neighbours have not complained.
Under English planning law, councils may require permission for structures that they judge to be development and can issue enforcement notices if work has been carried out without required consent. An owner served with an enforcement notice can appeal to the planning inspectorate; an enforcement notice is generally suspended while an appeal is considered. Councils weigh the impact of unauthorised works on the character of an area, local planning policies and, where relevant, greenbelt protections.
Teale said Caesar previously stood at her Belle Isle address from 2005 until she sold the house and initially sold the statue; she said she later arranged to repurchase it. Wakefield Council has said it appreciates not everyone will agree with its view but that the matter is governed by planning rules.
The case joins other local disputes in which councils have challenged household ornaments or fixtures for their perceived effect on the appearance of streets and compliance with planning regulations. The outcome of Teale's appeal will determine whether the statue must be taken down or whether retrospective permission might be granted, an outcome the council indicated would follow its assessment of any application and whether the benefits of retaining the statue outweigh any harm.
As of the appeal filing, the enforcement notice remains suspended. Neither Wakefield Council nor Teale provided a timetable for a decision on the appeal.