17 hours ago
Omaze winner denied keys to £6m house amid planning row
A former Miss Wales finalist who won a £6m house in a £10 Omaze draw is yet to get the keys as a result of a lengthy planning battle.
Vicky Curtis-Cresswell, 38, won the Norfolk home at the end of March, but has been unable to move in after an anonymous member of the public claimed a tennis court and swimming pool on the property had been built without permission.
The property, in Blakeney, has been under investigation by North Norfolk District Council since March.
Planning documents also revealed that the house had been built to be larger than permitted, according to the BBC.
If retrospective planning permission is refused by the local authority, officials technically have the power to tear down the 5,000 sq ft property entirely.
An Omaze spokesman said the company had submitted a pre-application to the council, and was filing a retrospective planning application as well.
Ms Curtis-Cresswell also won a £250,000 cash payment, which Omaze said was enough to run the property for 10 years if she chose not to sell. The property came with an estimated £165,000 of furnishings.
When she won, Ms Curtis-Cresswell was living with her husband, Dale, 41, their young daughter and her in-laws while looking for a home to rent.
She said at the time: 'When the Omaze film crew turned up outside our house, I started to think it might be the house, but it's just too big a thing to even imagine.
'My mother-in-law feels like she's won the jackpot as we can now move out.'
She added: 'Like a lot of people, it's fair to say times can be tough, we both work so hard, but things can still feel stretched some months. Winning this house feels like an enormous weight has been lifted.
'It's just crazy, one week we're worrying about our old car breaking down, the next thing we've got a £6m house.'
She said in March that the family planned to sell the house, in order to buy a new home in Wales. The prize draw for the Norfolk property raised £4.1m for Comic Relief, the company said.
The announcement of Ms Curtis-Cresswell as the winner, which had been set to be on the BBC's Comic Relief programme, was delayed due to privacy concerns.
Omaze told the BBC that the planning issues had not been flagged during the checks, and surveys performed on the house before it was purchased.
An Omaze spokesman said: 'Omaze will transfer ownership of the property to the winner once all planning matters are resolved.'
A North Norfolk District Council spokesman said: 'We are waiting for an application to be submitted by the owners to try and regularise the current breaches of planning control.
'We are expecting an application to be submitted by the end of this month.'
