A builder who put a giant stone gargoyle of a deputy mayor on his property in a row over planning is keeping it up – despite facing jail.
Michael Thomas, 73, was furious when his plan to convert an old pizza takeaway into a three-storey, seven bedroom HMO was rejected.
Deputy Mayor of Trowbridge Town Council Stewart Palmen objected to the project and put an enforcement notice in place to halt the building project.
Last year Mr Thomas took his revenge by erecting a stone gargoyle of Cllr Palmen on his Wiltshire roof.
And the effigy – sporting half-moon spectacles and sticking his tongue out – is still up and adorning the side of the disputed property in the Wiltshire town.
He says he’s not removing as a trial date looms over the planning row. He says he’d happily got to jail over it.
Michael said: ‘The gargoyle was intending to highlight the property and what the fight was all about.
‘They are wrong and I am happy to go to jail if I have to because as far as I am concerned if we people don’t stop and say “you are wrong” they will keep doing it.
‘The support I have got is amazing – I couldn’t believe so many people agreed with me.’
Mr Thomas also launched a protest against the council by attaching a banner to the scaffolding around the property.
The banner read: ‘Wiltshire council invests time and energy in green field developments and long developers outside and around Trowbridge at a profit while actively hindering small building developers trying to fill a need for accommodation for those who do not qualify for the more expensive out of town accommodation.’
Cllr Stewart Palmen said that he has now got used to seeing the gargoyle of himself outside the house.
He said at the time: ‘I am quite happy with it being there – I would like it to stay. There is no skin off my nose.
‘For any councillor any publicity is good publicity.
‘But it is very frustrating that years and years after he started building something without planning permission that so far there has been no consequence for him.’
Mr Thomas found himself at the centre of legal action from Wiltshire Council after he continued building work on the Newtown property despite an enforcement notice in 2020.
After being issued a temporary stop notice on the project, Mr Thomas vowed to complete the conversion.
Following objections from Cllr Palmen and local residents, the stop notice was superseded by an enforcement notice in September 2020.
He then applied for planning permission which was refused by Wiltshire Council in June 2022.
Mr Thomas appealed against this decision – which was dismissed in May 2023.
He has reportedly continued to work on the building during this time and the council has commenced prosecution proceedings for the failure to comply with the Enforcement Notice.
Mr Thomas has pleaded not guilty to this and the matter has been set down for a trial starting on November 19 – scheduled for three days.
The building itself is not listed, but is located in a conservation area.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
