The House on the Hill that shouldn’t be there!
The story of Leonard House, Winters Hill, West Compton — and what it tells us about our planning system.
On a hillside above the ancient Somerset village of West Compton, near Shepton Mallet, sits a modern single-storey house with large glass windows that light up the valley at night. Locals have described the glow as resembling “an alien invasion from Mars.” The building is called Leonard House. It sits on the land of Winters Hill — a hillside that had been untouched for centuries, bordered by a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Friar’s Oven, and crossed by centuries-old public footpaths.
The owner has no planning permission. They has never had planning permission. And yet the house stands — has stood for over five years — while the planning system slowly, repeatedly, tries to catch up.
This is the story of how that happened.
It Started in a Lockdown
In February 2020, as the Covid pandemic took hold, work began on the land at Winters Hill Lane, West Compton. When locals noticed the construction, they raised concerns with the council. But Covid restrictions were used as a shield — council enforcement officers couldn’t access the site to inspect it.
The owner told the council he was building a piggery — an agricultural structure for livestock. Planning rules treat agricultural buildings very differently from dwellings. No one could easily go and check.
By the time restrictions lifted, the structure was up. It wasn’t a piggery.
Three Applications, Three Refusals
What followed was an extraordinary sequence of planning applications — each one an attempt to retrospectively legitimise what had already been built.
2021/2022 — First application refused. The applicant applied for retrospective permission for an agricultural workers’ dwelling (ref: 2021/0345/FUL). It was declined on 4 May 2022. No appeal was made.
November 2022 — Second application refused. A further retrospective application (ref: 2022/2348/FUL) was submitted and again declined.
2023 — Third application refused. This time framed on affordable grounds, it was refused by a delegated officer decision without going to committee. The council’s officers were unambiguous: wrong place, wrong style, no local connection, no proven need, in direct conflict with both local and national planning policy.
The building sits perched at the top of a valley in an exposed, prominent position — visible from two public footpaths that run immediately beside it, and lit up at night by its large glazed frontage in a landscape where there was previously no light at all.
The Council Serves an Enforcement Notice
In 2023, Somerset Council served an Enforcement Notice (ENF/2020/0034) requiring the owner to demolish the building and restore the land. The owner appealed.
What happened next is one of the more embarrassing chapters of this saga: the Planning Inspector threw out the enforcement notice — not because the owner was right, but because the council had prepared it poorly.
The council was effectively sent back to start again. In September 2025, an amended Enforcement Notice was served. The position is clear: failure to comply is a criminal offence, and the council has the power to prosecute.
A Second Appeal — That Never Happened
With the amended notice in place, the applicant appealed again. A hearing date was due to be set in the Spring of 2026. The Planning Inspectorate’s portal was opened.
Then, just before the hearing, the appeal was brought to a halt — not by the applicant, but by Somerset Council’s own enforcement officers. The council withdrew the notice it had served. No public explanation was given. It is now being questioned, on legal advice, on whose authority that decision was actually made — and whether anyone had the standing to make it. Those of us watching are, frankly, baffled. The enforcement position, once again, was back to square one.
What the Papers Said
The case attracted national media attention in 2023:
The Mirror: “Landowner told to demolish illegal £500k house”
The Telegraph: “Illegal £500k house in West Compton, Somerset causes light pollution”
GB News: “Illegal £500k home set to be demolished after lighting up village like an alien invasion from Mars”
The Times: “Man ordered to flatten his £500,000 lockdown house”
The Landscape That Was There Before
West Compton is a small, historic hamlet in Somerset. Its dwellings cluster together at the bottom of a valley — that clustering is itself part of the historic character of the settlement. The surrounding hillsides have been agricultural land for centuries. The land at Winters Hill Lane borders the Friar’s Oven SSSI and is crossed by public footpaths used for generations.
As local residents have put it in formal representations to the Planning Inspectorate: “as you come over the path into the West Compton valley, the development sticks out like a sore thumb.” At night, the large glass windows blaze with light in a landscape where there was previously none.
What Happens Next
The appeal has been abandoned. The council has the tools to prosecute if the owner does not comply.
The real question now is whether Somerset Council — having already lost one enforcement notice on a technicality, having watched five years pass while this building has sat on the hillside — will use those tools. The planning system has been tested here. It needs to show it still has teeth.
The hillside above West Compton was untouched for centuries. Somerset Council now has every legal tool it needs to restore it. So I have one question for them: what exactly are you waiting for?
Based on formal representations to the Planning Inspectorate (January–February 2026, PINS Ref: APP/E3335/C/25/3373196), notes from a local councillor, and published media reports.