Shropshire Star

New owner spending thousands on Wrekin's Halfway House

The new owner of the The Wrekin's Halfway House today admitted he "may have bitten off more than he can chew" after spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on restoring the landmark - with thousands of pounds still needed to complete it.

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Sean Saward bought the house last year, having fond memories of it from his childhood, and has spent a considerable sum on renovation, despite living 155 miles away in Cambridge.

He planned to turn Halfway House into his family home while maintaining the refreshment stop for the the thousands of walkers who trudge up Shropshire's best-known hill every year.

After commissioning surveys on the house a budget was put aside for a target renovation cost.

But Mr Saward said the work had turned out to be much more complex than he had expected.

"We just kept coming across structural issues that have had to be addressed," said Mr Saward, 51. "Anything that is structural is always expensive."

The restoration has been made more expensive after one single complaint was made to Telford & Wrekin Council about his project, which is about two-thirds complete, forcing Mr Saward to apply for retrospective planning permission.

He had hoped to have finished the house by now so he could start work on restoring the pavilion, which over generations has been used as a restaurant, cafe and dance hall.

"I'm not a multi-millionaire property developer," said Mr Saward. "I cannot jeopardise my own family home in Cambridge any further having cashed in all of the original endowments with which I had planned to pay off my mortgage down here.

"I'm sure when it's finished that it will be worth at least the investment that I have made.

"I'm just not sure if it's going to be me that ends up living here."

Mr Saward said the changes to the Halfway House appeared popular with walkers on The Wrekin.

He said he had replaced all of the upvc windows that were originally in the house with natural wood frames.

"I'm trying to make the property blend in with its surroundings," he added. "We have had thousands of people stopping and commenting on how much they love the new look."

But one person has lodged a complaint over dormer windows Mr Saward has installed and although Mr Saward said he had been working with Telford & Wrekin's building regulations department, he has had to apply for retrospective planning permission.

"Planning have been, and are being, very supportive," said Mr Saward. "But because of the complaint more expense has incurred through things like planning application drawings and the planning applications themselves. All of these things are a cost.

"But the biggest cost of this is time. It's an eight to 10 week process and now there as a question mark over what I'm doing."

Mr Saward also installed a drinks vending machine outside the Halfway House, screening it with wooden cladding and a roof to match the house.

But this was also mentioned in the complaint, so Mr Saward said he had taken the decision to disconnect it, despite not being told to do so by planning officers.

Mr Saward said he had restored properties before, but only typical semi-detached houses.

"There's nothing typical about Halfway House," he added.

"Being here in Cambridge and not there is making it very difficult for me to manage.

"I still love the Halfway House and whenever I'm there I can see this vision of how I want it to look, but it's just a much more costly project than I ever anticipated."

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