Bungalow row dad misses demolition deadline
Defiant Mark Jones said he would live in a caravan and take it down "brick-by-brick" if he ultimately had to comply with Birmingham City Council's demand.
He is picketing the council house in a last-ditch plea to keep the property, despite having twice been denied planning permission and losing an appeal.
READ MORE: Dad who built £180k back garden bungalow for ill father has days to tear it down
The 55-year-old said: "This is £180,000 trashed in the bin. I can't win this unless the council speaks to me.
'My dogs will need rehoming and I could go to prison. I know we have made mistakes. I want the council to talk to me and make me see reason.'
Mark was given until the end of June to demolish the bungalow, built in the back garden of his ex-wife's home in Walmley Ash Road, Sutton Coldfield, in 2019.
With that deadline now missed, the former IT worker is now protesting outside Birmingham's Council House in a desperate bid to secure a change of heart.
He started building it for his dad Tony, who had cancer, believing the size was within the limit for permitted development, which can be done without planning permission.
A month later he was told he needed planning consent but continued building anticipating he would get permission. But the application was rejected in October 2019, the month his dad died.
A second application in November 2019 was also rejected along with a later appeal, which said the bungalow was "backland" development" and "very obvious from surrounding private gardens".
Mark's daughter and her boyfriend moved in during the covid pandemic and now he lives there himself. He claimed the council had been unwilling to speak with him and come up with a solution that did not involve demolishing the bungalow.
He takes his dogs, springer spaniels Max and Paddy, to his regular protest in Victoria Square and said they would also be will be homeless if the council forced through the bungalow demolition.
If the bungalow is not demolished he could be fined £200 a day.
He said: 'The building size is fine. If I take all the rooms out and put say a swimming pool in it would be OK.
'I am now appealing the permitted development decision and waiting for the enforcement action letter.
'The council said it won't talk to me now. It's waiting for the court case.
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'They will say take it down or we will fine you and then we will put you in prison.
'My ex-wife is starting to split the land off so it is separate.
'If I am going to lose I will knock it down. I will live in a caravan for three months and take it down brick by brick."
Asked why he carried on building without planning permission, he said: 'What sane person wouldn't think they would get permission for this?"
A spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council earlier said 'Mr Jones is currently in breach of the Enforcement Notice that was served to him in 2021, and we have given him ample time to comply with the notice by the end of June 2025.'
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