'Unauthorised’ swimming pool at Wiltshire house can stay

On January 7, owners of a country house in South Wraxall, near Bradford on Avon, have made an application for permission to build an outdoor swimming pool with kitchen/storage, and associated landscaping works years after the work was finished.

The homeowners were looking for retrospective listed building consent and planning permission for the pool, outhouse, and associated works, and will now be allowed to keep it after Wiltshire Council approved permission on March 2.

In a planning and heritage statement attached to the application, the agents acting on behalf of the property owners say construction of the new facilities was carried out between September 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021.

Five years on, the owners had been seeking the council’s approval of the works, which a statement filed as part of the application states were “unauthorised”.

In a section of the statement under the heading Heritage Significance, the agents write that the house is designated as Grade II for its special architectural and historic interest as a late-eighteenth century country house.

It goes on to say that while the walled garden also forms part of the historic functioning of the house, the side garden – which is where the swimming pool is located – is of “lower heritage significance”.

The outbuilding. (Image: Wiltshire Council)

As well as the pool and pool house, the works included the demolition of a small portion of the main perimeter wall of the walled garden, the removal of walls within the side garden, and new walls along the edge of the side garden.

A “modest” outbuilding was also built to “enhance” the use of the swimming pool – the outbuilding serves as an outdoor kitchen/barbeque area.

In a report on the application, a Wiltshire Council planning officer recommended both planning permission and listed building consent for the works.

The report cited responses from consultees, including concerns from South Wraxall Parish Council about the impact of the development on the listed building. The other consultees listed in the report – the conservation officer, and Historic England – said they had no objections to the work.

Concluding their report, the officer wrote: “The development results in no harm to the significance, setting and character of South Wraxall House.

“The impact on the wider curtilage is limited and relates primarily to the small loss of wall fabric of low heritage significance, with this area long characterised by change and adaptation.

“The overall effect of the works on the significance of the designated heritage asset is therefore neutral.”