A Cornwall property owner has been ordered to demolish an office, garage and outdoor swimming pool added to the grounds of a new home in Mawgan Porth after a five‑year planning dispute, but has so far not complied with a July 2025 deadline.
Cornwall Council said the structures represented a material change of use of land from agricultural paddock to residential use and that two retrospective planning applications, in 2021 and 2022, were refused. An appeal to the Planning Inspectorate was dismissed and the inspectorate upheld an enforcement notice requiring removal of the unauthorised development.
The owner, identified in local reporting as businessman Dean Robson, has told planning committees he believed the garage and office fell within permitted development rights after he bought the site in 2017 and that the house with planning permission was built in 2020. Mr Robson said the garage and pool lie a metre or two outside the established curtilage of the property and that he made a ‘‘reasonable assumption’’ about permissive development during the pandemic.
Cornwall Council said it took enforcement action after concluding that the land had been used for residential purposes. A council spokesperson said: "The owners exercised their right to appeal against the decision, but the Planning Inspectorate dismissed their appeal and upheld the enforcement notice with a compliance date of July 2025. The council is currently communicating with the landowner with a view to ensuring the enforcement notice is complied with shortly."
Local elected representatives said they are pressing for compliance and preparing to escalate action if necessary. Reform councillor Rowland O'Connor told the Daily Mail he had been "expediting resources and attention into getting it enforced" and said enforcement must be visible to avoid sending a message that rules are optional. He said enforcement is a last resort and there is a process to follow.
Some residents have voiced frustration at the scale and style of recent development in the village. Mawgan Porth, on Cornwall's north coast, has attracted high‑value buyers in recent years and has been nicknamed "Hollywood on Sea" in local reporting after several well‑known actors and producers purchased or built properties there. Rightmove data cited locally put average house prices in the area at more than £5.7 million over the past year.
In comments on the council's planning portal at the time of the original applications, a member of the public challenged the applicant's approach to the planning process and compared the unauthorised structures to other contentious temporary works erected during the 2021 G7 summit at Carbis Bay. That poster urged complete removal and restoration to agricultural land.
Mr Robson told a Cornwall Council planning committee in 2022 that public characterisations of the building as an "incongruous monstrosity" did not reflect his view and that the absence of a garage had been an oversight when the main house was built. He declined to comment to local media when approached for further explanation.
The enforcement notice gives a compliance deadline of July 2025. If the landowner fails to comply, councils can pursue further legal steps that may include fines, prosecution or seeking a court order to carry out the work and recover costs. Cornwall Council said it was communicating with the landowner with the aim of bringing the matter to a close.
The dispute is part of a wider local debate about development, permitted development rights and conservation of character in coastal villages that have seen traditional stone cottages replaced or remodelled as white‑rendered, glass‑fronted houses in recent years. Planning officers must balance property owners' rights with policies that protect landscape, heritage and the amenity of neighbours.
The enforcement notice and the planning inspectorate's decision remain public records on the council planning portal. The council said it will continue to take steps to ensure compliance with the notice.