A CONTROVERSIAL and long-running bid to transform part of an historic village home into a wedding venue will be the focus of a public inquiry starting next week.
Robert Vaudry, a Conservative member of Stratford District Council, has long been seeking to stage weddings at the grade II listed Moat House in Dorsington.
But despite being recommended for approval a year ago, the authority’s planning committee voted against proposals
to allow the staging of 12 events per year at the farmhouse – to the delight of many staunchly opposed villagers.
Coun Vaudry decided to appeal but the decision was upheld by government planning inspector Anne Jordan just before Christmas.
But Coun Vaudry – who lives in the house with his wife and three children – has again appealed the enforcement notice slapped on him preventing any more wedding events within the precincts of his home.
The hearing starts at the district council’s Elizabeth House headquarters on Tuesday (July 28) and is expected to last three days.
Villagers have fought Coun Vaudry’s plan from the start setting up a ‘Save Dorsington’ Facebook page and a
protest group – Dorsington Residents Oppose Plans in Total (DROPIT) – which previously staged a protest outside the gates of Mr Vaudry’s home.
Coun Vaudry, a former international investment banker, has previously accused campaigners of bullying and harassing his family over the plans.
