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A millionaire property developer who chopped down 28 cliff-top trees to make way for an illegal pool house has been fined £20,000.
In February 2021, Bill Buckler obtained permission from Natural England to fell trees on a sloping cliff at the end of Poole Gardens in Dorset for “conservation purposes”.
He told the NGO it was to protect the cliffs from erosion and improve the habitat of the sand lizard, a rare protected species.
But skeptical neighbors speculated it was more about improving his views, and soon the businessman began building a luxury garden pod and an infinity pool on the edge of the newly cleared cliffs.
Angry locals said he should not be building on the site of special scientific interest (SSSI), but Mr Buckler claimed he had held discussions with the council and Natural England and both sides agreed with his plans.
In early 2022, Natural England was made aware of reports of “unauthorized excavation works” at the site.
Following visits to the site in May and September that year, they said the building work was unauthorized and would have been opposed if Mr Buckler had followed proper procedures.
However, further excavation work continues until February 2023.
In March last year, Mr Buckler was fined £8,812 for breaching the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and £11,187 under an Enforcement Cost Recovery Notice.
Mr Buckler took Natural England to the High Court to challenge the penalty, which he claimed was “disproportionate and manifestly excessive”.
He also claimed that he had been “open and cooperative” with Natural England throughout the process.
But the judges have now unanimously dismissed his appeal in a scathing judgment, saying it was “manifestly without merit”.
Mr Buckler bought a 1960s bungalow in the Canford Cliffs area of Poole in October 2019 for more than £3.1 million.
Since 2020 he has been working on a £10m development to build four luxury homes to replace it.
Poole Bay Escarpment is listed as SSSI due to its important coastal habitat (especially sand lizards) and its geological features.
Its layers of rock, sand and fossilized plants date back thousands of years to a time when the Isles of Purbeck and the Isle of Wight were one connected landmass.
Mr. Buckler excavated into the cliff to bury underground concrete columns for a 60-foot-wide garden room at the edge of the cliff, designed with a viewing deck and a balcony on the roof.
Nick Squirrel, from Natural England, said the geological features on the protected land had been “permanently damaged” and could not be restored.
He also said attempts to remove the illegal works would destabilize the cliffs and put beach users at risk.
He said: “If these works that have already been carried out were to become the subject of the consultation process required by law under planning and conservation legislation, I have no doubt that there would be strong objections from both Natural England and the council.
“Unauthorized construction works carried out within the SSSI have damaged some of the geological features of which the SSSI has been notified.
“It is clear that these features are now gone and the nature of the unauthorized piling works and building activity may not be undone without posing a greater risk to the structural stability of the lower geological formations and cliff face and to visitors using the promenade and beach huts below.”
Mr Squirrel added: “It’s been thoughtfully designed for the garden room.
“Our concerns do relate to the situation at Bournemouth Cliff where there are currently some landslides occurring. The policy is to prevent development to prevent erosion and protect the beach huts and people at the bottom.
“It can’t be restored, it’s been permanently damaged, so now we need to think about how we can compensate, if at all, for the loss of those functions that have been destroyed.
“Taking out all the pillars and concrete would destabilize the cliff. We decided leaving it as is was the best option.”
Justice Anthony Snelson, who sided with the protection agency, wrote in his judgment: “We have found nothing substantial in any of the individual points of appeal that we have reviewed… This is an appeal that is manifestly without merit.”
It outlined the facts, adding: “Early 2022 [Natural England} was made aware of reports of unauthorised excavation works having been carried out at the site affecting geological features of the SSSI.
“Site visits followed, on May 9, 2022 and September 1, 2022.
“It was evident that large quantities of soil had been removed, apparently for the purposes of constructing an infinity pool.
“It seems that the work had been commenced in July 2021.
“In correspondence initiated on June 28, 2022 [Natural England] write to [Mr Buckler] He was asked to stop construction pending a decision on further action.
“[Mr Buckler] objected to this but later relented.
“The apparent change in attitude may be explained by the [Natural England] The local planning authority said any resumption of activity would be subject to a cease and desist notice.
“However, work resumed within a relatively short period of time (without permission from the defendants or the local planning authority) and continued until the local planning authority carried out a site inspection and issued an immediate stop instruction on or about 28 March 2023.
“During that visit, it became clear that further excavations were taking place beyond the 2021-2022 activities, at least some within the SSSI boundaries.”