Neighbours to ‘Britain’s biggest man cave’ have raised questions over the future of the 10,000sq ft extension as removal vans were spotted outside the Gloucestershire home on Friday.
Accountant Graham Wildin, 70, was sent to prison in August 2022 for six weeks after failing to comply with a court order to demolish an illegal annexe.
Mr Wildin installed a bowling alley, cinema, casino and bar in a large extension behind his home without planning permission from 2014.
Given 18 weeks from release to comply with another court order to make the leisure complex unusable by 6 January 2023, removal vans arrived on Friday.
Removal vans were sighted near the 10,000sq ft annexe in Gloucestershire on Friday
Mr Wildin was jailed after building ‘Britain’s largest man cave’ without planning permission
Accountant Mr Wildin built a 10,000sq ft complex behind his home (pictured) in 2014
The Forest of Dean District Council has pursued the case, obtaining an injunction against Mr Wildin in November 2018 and giving him until 25 April 2020 to remove the illegal leisure building.
Mr Wildin said that demolishing the man cave would ruin him, costing an estimated £720,000, and was later jailed.
The accountant and grandfather served around half the six week sentence imposed in August 2022, and was given a further 18 weeks to ‘soft strip’ the interior of the man cave, rendering it unusable.
The window ended on Friday 6 January 2023, when neighbours saw removal vans on his driveway.
‘In what should have been a completely avoidable situation, Mr Wildin has continually ignored planning law and policies that are there to protect local communities,’ said Cllr Paul Hiett, Deputy Leader of Forest of Dean Council
Mr Wildin appealed the ruling of contempt of court for non compliance with his injunction
Locals say removal vans had been around the house for a few weeks, loaded with property — but remain cynical the cave will be fully demolished.
An anonymous neighbour said: ‘He’s got a couple of white vans there, and we think he’s been putting stuff in them.
‘He loads some items into them, they’ve not moved at all in that long, but we are under the impression that as soon as the council comes to check if the interiors of the building have been stripped – he’s gunna put everything back in again.’
They added: ‘He thinks he’s being clever – but he’s not that clever. We can see everything he does.
‘He’s had people there working, so I think they’re probably clearing it out for him into the vans.
‘A lot has been going on there this week but he’s had 18 weeks to do this so I’m assuming something is being done.’
‘I don’t expect the council will turn up today. They usually leave it a few days, but I expect when they do sometime next week he’ll just replace it all.’
Another local resident said that they had ‘no idea’ what he was doing in there but they had seen people entering and exiting Wildin’s gated ‘mansion’.
Mr Wildin said it would cost him £720,000 to demolish the leisure complex entirely
One neighbour who lives on the road said: ‘He’s not very well liked. He’s upset everybody on this road by flouting planning rules and then parking his collection of classic cars everywhere’
Council officials have vowed to continue the planning battle to get rid of the complex which once contained a cinema, squash court, bowling alley and casino.
But it might need to wait for the outcome of another court hearing in Spring before deciding the next move.
Mr Wildin has appealed against the judge’s decision to jail him for not complying with the court’s instructions.
At the court hearing he claimed he had done as much as he could but the council produced photographs to prove he hadn’t fully complied.
His appeal against the jail sentence will be heard by the Court of Appeal on March 1, 2023.
His appeal against the judge’s decision to proceed with the hearing on 12 August and award the council £10,000 costs has already been refused by the Court of Appeal.
The Forest of Dean District Council has made it clear it is not intending to drop the planning row over the leisure centre at Meendhurst Road.
A FODDC council spokesman said: ‘This is an ongoing legal matter and the council will continue to pursue it.’
