LEGAL moves have delayed the threatened demolition of a house worth about £400,000, built without planning permission in a village.

The five-bedroom house at Ingleby Arncliffe, between North-allerton and Stokesley, was built by Teesside property developer Peter Howell as a retirement home for himself and his wife, Kay.

He became locked in a prolonged dispute with Hambleton District Council over a breach of planning controls.

Enforcement action was started a year ago and an appeal was lost in November when an independent inspector upheld the council's decision to seek demolition.

The inspector concluded that the house was markedly taller than neighbouring properties, was unacceptably intrusive and out of step with the character of the road on which it stood.

Applications for retrospective permission by Mr Howell, who runs Blackwell Property Developments at Elton, near Stockton, were refused by the development control committee and members insisted in March that the house must be pulled down.

But the latest meeting of the committee yesterday was forced to consider the threat of an injunction from Mr Howell to stop the demolition, which he described as a draconian step.

Members agreed to await the result of another appeal, against refusal of planning permission for a revised scheme involving a reduction in the bulk of the north-eastern gable and the removal of a bedroom.

Committee chairman Councillor Geoff Ellis said: "If we take action without awaiting the outcome of this latest appeal, we understand we could face stiff legal costs.

"The owner has threatened to serve us with an injunction to delay the demolition order, and we have been advised that it would be reasonable to await the appeal decision before demolishing the house.

"We stand by our earlier decision that this house was built without planning permission and must be knocked down."

Mr Howell, who already had outline consent for the site, maintained he had taken a reasonable risk in starting work without detailed approval, and denied he had deliberately set out to flout planning regulations.

He said he would lose more than £200,000 if the house had to be demolished.

He said yesterday: "We are relieved that common sense has prevailed and that the committee has accepted it would be unreasonable to demolish a perfectly good house, particularly as there is an appeal pending.

"I am a businessman, I have not built a house where a house should not be and I have spent a lot of time and effort in talking with planning officers."