Overview
- West Berkshire Council ordered Pippa and James Matthews to dig up a 400-square-metre car park on their Barton Court estate on Saturday, Oct 31, 2026, after their retrospective planning application was refused.
- A Government-appointed planning inspector dismissed the couple's appeal in July, finding the engineered hard standing was visually intrusive and had eroded the open, undeveloped character of the North Wessex Downs.
- The Matthewses had laid the agricultural hard standing without consent and said in a November 2025 retrospective application that a car park for visiting anglers was needed because fishing fees provide income for land upkeep; the council refused permission in February 2026.
- Local residents objected to the loss of meadowland and hedgerow, the lack of consultation, and the change to the village entrance, and a separate dispute over Mill Lane was recently resolved against a public right of way claim because an inspector found insufficient evidence of long-term public use.
- The enforcement order requires restoration of the site and will change how the meadow is used and accessed locally while signalling stricter oversight of unauthorised works on large private estates.