Our neighbour built a ‘dystopian castle’ so tall it’s looming over seaside homes – we’re forcing him to axe top floor
FUMING neighbours have forced the owner of a “dystopian castle” to axe the top floor after claiming it loomed over their seaside homes.
West End showman Adam Spiegel has agreed to cut his modernist home in Norfolk down to size after a decade-long planning dispute.
Spiegel splashed out £2.5million building the three-storey pad – but soon came under siege from planning officials.
The home is named Arcady which means “rustic paradise”, but villagers likened it to a “dystopian fortress”.
They claimed the building was larger than planned and in 2019 ordered Spiegel to tear it down.
He filed a revised planning application but it was turned down – with government inspectors later dismissing his appeal.
In January Spiegel lodged a fresh proposal offering to raze the top floor of the pad and replace it with a traditional pitched roof.
The proposal faced 19 objections from villagers but councillors finally approved it in April.
Builders were this week seen removing the top floor of the modernist home in the coastal village of Cley.
The new roof will actually be higher at its apex than the top floor, but looks much more similar to neighbouring chocolate-box cottages.
One neighbour previously said: “I don’t like it, it’s too big – it just looks out of character with the rest of the village.
“We call it the Travelodge hotel because it is so big and at night it’s all lit up it seems like every window is lit up.”
Other neighbours said the pad “doesn’t fit in” with the village, which is mainly made up of quaint flint cottages.
Spiegel made his fortune producing crowd-pleaser West End shows like The Mousetrap and Hairspray.
He has declined to comment throughout the row, which began when he applied to raze an existing bungalow on the site in 2012.
What is retrospective planning permission?
SOMETIMES a homeowner might make changes to their property without asking for planning permission.
It is legal to apply for planning permission retrospectively.
People who build a structure can apply for permission afterwards.
The council can ask the resident to retrospectively apply for planning permission for any completed work which needs it.
This normally happens when someone complains to the council about the new work.
The same considerations will apply and permission only granted if it is deemed suitable by the local authority.
Retrospective planning applications are not automatically approved – around one in five are turned down.
If the application is turned down, the homeowner may have to tear down whatever they have built.
But if it is approved, the retrospective planning permission is just as valid and legitimate as permission granted before building work starts