Father who built four luxury holiday cabins complete with hot tubs at a beauty spot he owns has been ordered to demolish them

• Waterside chalets with hot tubs on the Gower were opened for guests a year ago
• Owner John Phillips didn’t think they needed planning permission on opening

A father who built four luxury holiday cabins complete with hot tubs has been ordered to demolish them after it was revealed they were built without proper permissions in a natural beauty spot. 

Owner John Phillips, 38, who opened his £200-a-night chalets in the Gower Peninsula in Wales over a year ago, has now lost a planning battle to keep them.

Mr Phillips said he did not believe the buildings needed planning permission because of their size when he initially built them. But after speaking to council workers he was advised to apply for ‘change of use’ if he intended to rent them out. 

He took on the battle by later applying for retrospective planning permission, but was denied by officials and has now been told they must be demolished. 

Mr Phillips and his partner Kerrie Garrett saw the chalets as a chance to ‘cash in’ on the beauty of the surrounding area and provide for their two-year-old daughter Darcy-Mae. 

A father who built four luxury holiday cabins complete with hot tubs has been ordered to demolish them

Owner John Phillips, 38, who opened his £200-a-night chalets in the Gower Peninsula in Wales over a year ago, has now lost a planning battle to keep them

Mr Phillips said he did not believe the buildings needed planning permission because of their size when he initially built them

But furious locals claimed the chalets were a ‘blot on the landscape’ of Britain’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and should not have been built.

The cabins in the hamlet of Landimore, about 13 miles east of Swansea, faced objections from neighbours and even the National Trust – before planning officials ruled they detracted from the Landimore Conservation Area and Gower AONB.

Council officers issued enforcement action on eight grounds; including the lack of flood and ecology reports, and potential damage to the roots of trees at the rear of the cabins.

The enforcement notice requires Mr Phillips to remove all traces of the cabins and reinstate the land to what it was before.

The notice was due to take effect from next week but Mr Phillips has appealed the council decision with the Welsh Government department Planning and Environment Decisions Wales.

He argued the cabins would attract visitors to the area all year round and boost the economy in an area where tourist accommodation was limited.

He built the cabins in the grounds of his home in the beauty spot as an investment.

The luxury chalets were constructed without planning permission in a natural beauty spot

Owner John Phillips, his partner Kerrie Garret and their daughter Darcy-Mae, during construction of the chalets

Mr Phillips said that this part of Swansea means a lot to him and that visitors love the beautiful surroundings

Mr Phillips said that this part of Swansea means a lot to him and that visitors love the beautiful surroundings.

The professional middleweight mixed martial artist said: ‘The Gower is a gorgeous area, we’ve grown up around here. Everybody loves it here.

‘We’ve had tonnes of visitors here, they absolutely love it. They’ll come from all over the world and they can’t believe how beautiful it is here.’

But there were 12 objections to his retrospective plans – including from the National Trust, on the grounds of increased noise, traffic and visual intrusion.

One objector described them as a ‘blot on the landscape’ while another said they should be demolished and the area replanted.

There were also two letters or support, which said the chalets were the type of high-class tourist accommodation Gower needed.

John said: ‘We don’t understand what the big problem is.

‘There’s a massive need for rental accommodation down here, and it provides jobs. The local pubs, restaurants and takeaways must have seen an increase in business.’ 

He argued the cabins would attract visitors to the area all year round and boost the economy in an area where tourist accommodation was limited

The cabins in the hamlet of Landimore (pictured), about 13 miles east of Swansea, faced objections from neighbours and even the National Trust

The chalets are made up of a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, pull-out sofa bed for children, balcony and hot tub and each come with a parking space close to the Wales Coastal Path running around the entire Welsh coastline

The chalets are made up of a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, pull-out sofa bed for children, balcony and hot tub and each come with a parking space close to the Wales Coastal Path running around the entire Welsh coastline.

They were advertised on the business’s website for £175, £185, or £200-per-night.

In the original planning report, officers said the road leading to the chalets was too narrow, leading to potential pedestrian safety issues.

It also said he had not provided flood consequence and ecological reports, and that the chalets had damaged the roots of protected trees.

The planning officers’ report added that the ‘need and demand for the holiday chalets in this sensitive countryside location has not been justified’.

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