Sarah Beeny has her own Restoration Nightmare after living in renovated mansion without planning permission for TEN YEARS

Published 20th Jul 2011

* TV star submits retrospective application for 97-room £440k home


It is the grand, Grade 2-listed property which is well-known as the family home of one of Britain's most recognisable property developers.

But after featuring Rise Hall, near Hull, on her Restoration Nightmares show, property guru Sarah Beeny has now found herself in a development dilemma of her own.

The TV presenter forgot to apply for proper planning permission for the 97-room former convent for ten years.

The presenter of the Channel 4 show has had to submit a retrospective application to turn Rise Hall into a home because she did not apply for change of use permission when she started living there.

Beeny and her husband Graham Swift say the hall never had planning permission and had been a family home in the past.

The couple bought the 33-bedroom property for £441,101 in 2001 and part of the TV series last year showed a section of it being turned into a wedding venue.

But local councillor Matthew Grove told the Hull Daily Mail: 'The ordinary man in the street has to jump through hoops to get even the smallest extension approved.

'Yet here we have a listed building being changed, with no planning permission in place, and without anyone batting an eyelid.'

On the venue’s website, Beeny says: 'Rise Hall has been our family home for over 10 years and, hopefully, with money from wedding ceremonies, it can still be a family home.'

But Mr Grove responded: 'The programme showed the hall being used for weddings, yet we have yet to see a planning application to use it for that.'

The couple had a run-in with their local planning department last year over a new access road.

They have since issued a statement, saying: 'When Graham Swift and Sarah Beeny bought Rise Hall it had stood empty for 10 years.

'It was originally a family home, then used as a convent and school and then once again became a home when Graham and Sarah bought it. In its 200-year history no planning permission for its use has ever been granted.

'Graham and Sarah are working with their local authority and the steps that they are taking together are entirely appropriate, considering the building’s past, present and potential future use.'

Viewers will discover the outcome to the planning issue when a second series of Restoration Nightmare, currently being filmed, is screened.

Source: ' ThisIsMoney '

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