Couple who illegally built £1,000,000 home ordered to tear it down

A couple who broke planning laws to build a three-bedroom home instead of a horse breeding clinic have been ordered to demolish it.

Jeremy and Elaine Zielinski had been given planning permission to build a two-storey stallion semen collection centre and laboratory, with a small flat on the first floor for staff.

But instead the couple turned the building into a three-bedroom home set within 17acres of land. in Great Abingdon, Cambridgeshire.

The council ordered the couple to tear the building down in 2023 after getting wind of the property being used as a family home.

The Zielinskis appealed the order, arguing it was excessive and the property could just revert to the permitted use instead.

But now a planning inspector has thrown out their appeal, saying the couple ‘constructed a dwelling from the off’.

Elaine has since told MailOnline she and her husband didn’t know they were breaking the law.

The 79-year-old GP receptionist said: ‘We want to carry on living here. It’s a warm and comfortable home. I love it.

‘It doesn’t make sense to tear it down. I don’t want to go and live in a caravan. If we are chucked out, we will be having to rely on the state.

‘We would not have gone on and built this and put all our money into it unless we thought it was totally legal to do it.’

Her husband, 73, a former marketing manager for The Injured Jockeys Fund who now does home deliveries for a pharmacy, added: ‘I have not had a decent night’s sleep in years and, from the moment when we got the first visit in 2020 [from council officials], life has been shaky.

‘We have lost £1million overnight as a result of this decision. If we could have a semen clinic on the site it would be worth at least £1million.’

The Zielinskis bought a house with an outbuilding set on 17acres of land for £100,000 back in 1986.

In 2014, they were given planning permission by South Cambridgeshire district council for a countryside business with a reception area, office, kitchenette, laboratory space, staff changing room and toilet on the ground floor, and two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms on the first floor.

But planning inspector Chris Preston found the property had a ‘decidedly residential appearance’, including a kitchen with island breakfast bar, domestic furnishings and appliances, a dining area, living room and home office.

The Zielinskis sold their own home in 2019, moving into a static home, and believe a jealous neighbour informed on them.

In their submission to the Planning Inspectorate, they claimed lockdown wrecked their business plans for the clinic and they were forced to turn the property into their home, while continuing to run their business on the grounds.

Mr Preston turned down their appeal, concluding it had been built as a house from the start, rather than converted from the approved lab and flat.

He added there was ‘very little evidence that the stallion semen collection and analysis business every got off the ground to any notable degree’.

Considering the Zielinskis’ claim they will be left homeless if the building is demolished, Mr Preston concluded: ‘Given the clear and flagrant breach of planning policy and the associated harm arising, I find that interference with the human rights of the appellant and his wife would be proportionate in this case.’

The couple are now taking legal advice to see if they can overturn the decision – otherwise, the building must be demolished within 12 months.

Jeremy added: ‘If we have broken the rules, we didn’t know the full ramifications.

‘We did not get any advice from the planners along the way. The first we knew something was wrong was in 2020.

‘There was not much communication. Don’t throw us out on the street.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.