A £400,000 house built without planning approval in North Yorkshire has been demolished after a five year legal battle.

Peter Howell built the property in Ingleby Arncliffe, near to Northallerton, sparking a long running dispute with Hambleton District Council.

The authority felt the house was dominant and visually intrusive in the village due to its height, bulk and colour.

It placed a demolition order on the house in 2005 and Mr Howell lodged a series of legal challenges and planning appeals which he lost.

The Planning Inspectorate dismissed Mr Howell's last appeal in October 2008.

A demolition team moved in on June 15 watched by council staff and the police to knock down the property in the quiet village.

Maurice Cann, the council’s head of planning, said: "Unfortunately this is a consequence of someone not following the rules.

"He was advised on a number of occasions that he was building the house at his own risk and after five years this is the result.

"We spent several years trying to resolve this and sadly it has had to come down."

Several villagers turned out to view the house being pulled down by a JCB and many said the structure had been a blight on the area.

Barbara Martin, who lives opposite the site, said: "I’m thrilled to see it coming down and that the council has the courage and commitment to see this through.

"It shows that we ordinary people can have a voice and the building was too large and now it has gone.

"We know someone will buy the land and another a building will go on to it but hopefully it will be something more in keeping with a North Yorkshire village."

Fellow resident Val Hammond, who lives on Priory Way behind the house, said: "We are pleased that it’s coming down.

"People have got a little bit hot when it’s been talked about. He had five years and if he’d built it right in the first place no-one would have objected."

Mr Howell, a property developer from Elton, near Stockton, was not present when the property was demolished.

Ownership of the house had passed to the Royal Bank of Scotland after Mr Howell’s business went into liquidation.

The bank had accepted the property had to come down and it will retain ownership of the land.