Farmer facing seven years of ‘living nightmare’ as local council threatens him for knocking down ‘historic’ wall he built himself

An 89-year-old farmer is facing a “living nightmare” after being threatened with enforcement action by his local council over demolishing part of a wall he built himself more than 50 years ago.

Ron Knight has been embroiled in a more than seven-year-long battle with Somerset Council after removing a section of concrete wall in 2017 to access his land.

Despite erecting the wall himself in 1973 in Milborne Port, Somerset, Knight was told he needed planning permission as it was now considered “historic” and within a conservation area.

And the elderly farmer, who now lives with his wife Jean, 81, in Bampton, Devon, has vowed to go to prison rather than pay the nearly £3,000 fine imposed by the council.

Knight has appeared in court multiple times after missing the initial deadline to appeal the enforcement notice.

Last year, a judge warned he could face 45 days in prison unless he rebuilt the wall and repaid all fines.

The council has now threatened to send bailiffs to his home to seize property to reclaim the losses.

Knight reluctantly agreed to a judge’s order to pay £5 monthly from his pension, but was later told this wasn’t possible.

“I’ve been to court so many times I’ve lost count,” Knight said.

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“They asked if I would be willing to have £5 a month come out of my pension… Then I got a letter saying they could no longer take it out.”

Knight moved to Milborne Port in 1957 and purchased Canon Court Farm with his two brothers five years later.

After selling the farm to retire to Devon in 1990, he retained six acres of land and three acres of allotments.

Disputes arose with neighbours who Knight claims “blocked access” to his land and his “right of way” through their developments.

“We had right of way to go through there – it was the only way to get into it,” Knight explained. “It was then blocked completely.”

He then enlisted his grandsons’ help to remove part of the wall to maintain the area and prevent it becoming overgrown.

The situation has severely impacted his wife Jean, who said: “We have never owed a penny in our lives and have always paid up front.”

But Somerset Council has defended its actions, claiming it was in the public interest to pursue the matter.

“We consider that the creation of the access, necessitating the demolition or removal of a wide section of the historic stonewall and associated engineering work to the land behind, fails to safeguard the established character of the conservation area,” a council spokesman said.

The council maintains Knight’s actions caused “unjustified harm to a designated heritage asset.”

But Knight remains defiant, saying: “My argument is that if that wall was ours in 1973, it is our wall now. Why are they kicking up a volatile fuss?

“I am not paying it – why should I, if it belongs to me. I don’t care what they say or what they do.”