Sarah Beeny WINS eight-year planning row over 'mini-Downton Abbey' farmhouse after council chiefs finally agree she doesn't have to tear it down

Sarah Beeny has been accused of 'running roughshod over everybody' after finally winning an astonishing eight-year planning row over her illegal 'mini-Downton Abbey' farmhouse.

The TV presenter and entrepreneur was given the green light to keep the building on her Somerset estate – despite previously being served with a demolition order.

The 54-year-old had tied planners up in years of legal wrangling to stop the elaborate farmhouse from being levelled.

Beeny and husband Graham Swift had put in so many planning applications that one local compared her to Captain Tom Moore's daughter, who was eventually forced to knock down an illegal spa complex in her garden.

Furious parish council members also criticised Somerset Council's U-turn and said it undermined the 'credibility and effectiveness' of its planning rules.

Neighbour Kevin Flint said Beeny had created a 'lot of bad feeling in the village'.

He added: 'She was given permission to build the new house on condition she knocked down the old one which she extended and refurbished, it's just not on.

'She thinks she can move down here and ride roughshod over everybody but it's not going to happen.

'I think the fair thing would be for anything unauthorised on the site to be demolished like Captain Tom's daughter.'

The Property Ladder star – who has battled breast cancer – stoked the ire of locals shortly after purchasing the rural estate in Stoney Stoke for £3 million in 2018.

She immediately set about a huge overhaul of the estate, getting agreement two years later to knock down the original 1970s farmhouse.

But instead of razing the property - which featured on Beeny's Channel Four show, New Life in the Country – she instead extended it without planning permission.

When Beeny and husband Graham Swift sought approval retrospectively, they were refused in September 2024.

The couple then lost a Planning Inspectorate appeal in February last year – and were ordered to bring in the wrecking ball.

But Beeny's planning team Avalon Planning & Heritage found a loophole that would allow them to keep the old farmhouse.

As part of the original planning application, they were given the nod to convert rundown agricultural buildings into five new dwellings, but work on this hadn't finished.

So, they submitted a new planning application to vary the conditions.

Instead of five new houses, they'd build only four and keep the original farmhouse.

Chair of Planning South (Somerset) Jason Baker wrote to the planning team to confirm he was happy with Beeny's and Swift's proposal.

He wrote: 'I can confirm that I am satisfied for the application to be determined under delegated powers as the application is considered acceptable as there is now a fallback position in that prior approval has already been granted for five new dwellings on the farm which can be implemented.'

Shepton Montague Parish Council had stood firm with its objection and expressed frustration that it had taken so long for planners to enforce the demolition order.

It accused the couple of tinkering with the original application to try and get round the fact they had built the property illegally.

But the district council and its chair of the planning committee had the deciding factor.

Mr Baker has now given the green light to the proposal – and even praised the farmhouse for providing 'ecological and sustainability benefits when considering embodied carbon and biodiversity matters.

The approval for Beeny and Swift's proposals includes a legal agreement 'limiting approved development at Stokeford Farm'.

The Daily Mail has contacted Sarah Beeny's representatives for comment.