A DECADES-long planning dispute which was seemingly threatening to bankrupt Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) appears to have been settled.

By 2023, the authority was facing a potential loss of £630,000 and was taking money from its reserves to cover the legal costs of the case.

At the same time, ENPA was being told it needed to find about £170,000 of savings just to balance its budget.

The dispute revolved around changes made to a five-bedroom house in Dunster bought in the mid-2000s by former British Airways and Turkish airline pilot Richard Wilmot.

ENPA refused Mr Wilmot planning permission and took enforcement action which eventually led to more than 20 charges being brought against him in magistrates courts, resulting in fines of £22,000 and costs £25,000.

Mr Wilmot, who was said to be a millionaire, had already made national newspaper headlines over one of the longest divorces in British history with proceedings running for 16 years.

He was last heard of retiring to the Isle of Wight.

The park authority eventually took possession of the grade two listed property in The Ball, Dunster, in order to sell it as the only way it could recover any of the costs of its battle with Mr Wilmot.

However, two attempts to market the 19th century former blacksmith’s house which originally had an attached yard containing a forge and an outbuilding for shoeing, were unsuccessful.

Now, estate agents Fox and Sons has sold the house for the authority after marketing it for £530,000 and the new owners have applied for planning permission to correct some of the unauthorised changes which had been made to it.

An ENPA spokesperson was this week unable to say how much of its costs had been recovered through the sale because ‘we are still waiting for more information from the solicitors’.