Although the conversion, replacement or re-use of existing buildings are the means most favoured by developers seeking to build bespoke new homes in the countryside, Paragraph 80 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) offers an alternative. Previously known as Paragraph 79 and, earlier, Paragraph 55, this stipulation regulates the construction of new isolated homes in the countryside.
It permits such houses to be built in some extremely rare instances and under the most draconian conditions, to the extent that only about 100 have been built since the policy, the so-called ‘Gummer’s Law’, was first introduced in 1997 by the then minister John Gummer (now Lord Deben).
In order to qualify for planning approval under Paragraph 80, the design must be ‘of exceptional quality’; reflect the highest architectural standards as laid down by a regional review board; help raise standards of design in rural areas; and also ‘significantly enhance’ its immediate setting and be sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area.
Despite the evident financial risks involved, this was the route taken by young Cornish developer Charlotte Wheatley and her builder partner when, in 2019, she bought 2½ acres of ‘Heligan-style’, quasi-tropical gardens, which were previously part of the Lower Treneague estate at St Breock, near Wadebridge, 7½ miles from Padstow, eight miles from St Merryn and 10 miles from Harlyn Bay.
The setting was idyllic, a ‘mini-Eden’ bordered by a stream with inter-connecting ponds, myriad native and imported plants and abundant wildlife. Entirely private, with little sign of its existence from the passing lane, no near neighbours, and less than a mile from the centre of Wadebridge, on the face of it, there was little or no chance of ever being allowed to build a house there.
With the odds seemingly stacked against them, the couple jumped through every conceivable planning hoop before finally securing planning consent to build a genuinely net-zero-carbon, timber-framed house with four reception rooms, five bedrooms and four bathrooms on three floors, with a covered balcony on the top floor providing sensational treetop views over the gardens. Having completed the basic groundworks and landscaping, building is now under way with completion expected a year from now.
With work proceeding apace, Trehytte (sort of Cornish for ‘tree-house’) is being offered for sale through Humberts in Truro with selling agent Duncan Ley quoting a guide price of £3m.
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