Builder’s work on protected building went beyond permit

Regnard, of Bottreaux, Clos du Belvedere, St Peter Port, admitted two offences of partially demolishing and rebuilding a barn and a house at a property called Le Gardinet between 21 June 2018 and 3 July last year.

Four charges relating to specifics of development at the same site were not put and not proceeded with.

Advocate Jenny McVeigh, prosecuting, said Regnard had bought the house, which had a barn on its land, to renovate it as a home for him and his family.

Various planning applications were submitted but following visits by officials it was found that the works being carried out fell outside of that for which permission had been given.

For Regnard, Advocate Peter Ferbrache said that as soon as his client learned of the problems, work was stopped.

He went on to detail the ‘completely unsafe’ condition of the barn and submitted a number of photos to the court to show why the work had been needed.

A ‘soft strip’, work done to establish its condition, revealed severe cracks in the barn’s structure and, in Regnard’s words, it was ‘shot’ and dangerous.

More than 1,000 photos were taken of the work done on the property to make sure there could be no dispute over what had been done.

He had obtained permission from Building Control for the work on the barn, and did not realise he was doing anything wrong. The roof structure of the barn was beyond economical repair, said the advocate.

There had been close working with planners, and each timber and tile removed was numbered so it could be reused.

The house had presented even more of a problem than the barn, and its roof was also unsafe, said Advocate Ferbrache, and the A-frames will now be little more than cosmetic since they were unable to support it. Like the barn there were large cracks in the structure.

Regnard’s intention was to use old materials wherever possible, such as lime plaster.

The soft strip was undertaken while Regnard was out of the island and had gone a bit further than was approved.

‘He apologises for the fact that he did breach the law but it was not intentional and not cavalier,’ said Advocate Ferbrache.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said that, as a builder, Regnard would know that there was a clear and obvious need to comply with the law.

He accepted that this was not a project where the plan was to ‘flip’ the property by renovating it and selling it at a profit and that it was to be used as a family home.

Giving Regnard credit for his guilty plea, treating him as a person of previous good character and having listened to the mitigation, he was prepared to temper the penalties and imposed fines of £1,500 for the work done on the house and £1,000 for that done on the barn.