QUICK DISCLAIMER: All views & OPINIONS expressed in Matt's Column are his own and the topics are that of his own choice. These are not articles.
Sarah Beeny is known for her expert guidance of the complex and somewhat headache business that is property. Giving others advise on how to cope with the numerous pieces of paper to fill in and planning permissions etc... you would think that Sarah had the knowledge to practise what she preaches, by applying her own advice to her own life. That doesn’t seem to be the case as she is currently battling a case for apparently not having planning permission for ripping apart her 97 room listed mansion.
Rise Hall in East Yorkshire cost Sarah a mere £435,000 and along with her husband, allowed viewers for a Channel 4 TV show to see her restore the beautiful building to what it once was. One viewer who wasn’t astonished by Beeny’s hard work was local Councillor Matthew Ward who was unable to find any documentation of planning permission to allow Miss Beeny to carry out the work on the property. Now, the pair are involved in a row with Beeny branding the row ‘a storm in a teacup’ for political gain”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said:
‘We had a dream to bring this beautiful house alive again, to regenerate the area. But now our time and money is spent filling in forms.
‘I’ve done something to annoy the council. I suppose it’s something to do with the fact that I’m on television. I’m under no illusions — this is personal.’
Good on Sarah Beeny I say! this delightful mansion has stood empty for the past 7 years... every day crying out to be restored with love, attention and most importantly, time! after a tedious amount of time of knocking down and building walls she has managed to restore and decorate it, but now she is unable to make the most of it due to the idiocy of the likes of MR Groves. I ask the question and wonder whether or not they would simply prefer this historic mansion to just lay in its foundations and rot? Would he prefer it to get further run down and evaporated? a complete jobsworth! It isn’t as if Miss Beeny wants to turn her property and its land into a fairground attraction, she simply wishes to hire it out for weddings and functions... then have it for herself as a holiday home... surely better than a rotted mess? The property is Grade II lasted and yes, if she didn’t get full planning permission then she only has herself to blame, but to make such a fuss out of it is ridiculous. She should know better... though at the end of it she has created and restored something which can stand for years to come... Maybe it’s just a case of sour grapes on MR. Groves’s part!
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