Property developer Wayne Low, 48, demolished a 200-year-old pub, the Historic Travellers Rest, in Yorkshire in the Long Riston village conservation area (CA) after admitting he didn’t have planning permission, and was fined £54K.
image: for illustration purposes only
‘…harm that was caused to a heritage asset was exacerbated by the fact that….object was make money…’
Daily Mail writes:
A greedy property tycoon who horrified Yorkshire villagers by flattening their 200-year-old pub has been handed a £54,000 fine after not obtaining planning permission.
Property developer Wayne Low, 48, demolished the historic Travellers Rest pub, in Long Riston, east Yorkshire, last year despite pleas for him to stop.
Low, of Molescroft, Beverley, admitted failing to obtain planning permission to demolish the pub on January 30, 2020.
He was fined £32,000 and was ordered to pay £21,968 costs. No separate penalty was imposed on his company AGML (UK).
Recorder Tahir Khan QC said: ‘The harm that was caused to a heritage asset was exacerbated by the fact that your object was make money….
Locals were alerted to what was going when workmen turned up to switch off the power shortly after New Year 2020.
Killian Garvey, prosecuting for East Riding Council, said that the pub was demolished between November 2019 and February last year.
While demolition was ongoing on January 30 last year, Low was warned that he was committing an offence and that he should stop.
‘He refused that,’ said Mr Garvey. ‘He was told explicitly that he was committing an offence to demolish the pub.’….
After a legal battle against the ruling, he later turned the sole surviving wing of the 18th century building into a micro pub….
Local councillor Brian Skow said: ‘I’ve never seen villagers this upset before. It was a wonderful pub.’
The pub, founded in the early 1800s had closed in 2018 and, although it was not listed, it was in the village conservation area.
In mitigation, Low claimed he had a ‘genuine passion for historic buildings’.
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