Man says derelict Eryri mansion 'worst investment' ever after being banned from renovating it

• Mr Dive said the investment was "one of the worst" he's made.

A business owner who bought a derelict mansion in Eryri with plans to convert it into a family home and hospitality business has claimed it has been "one of the worst investments he’s ever made" after being served a stop order for renovations.

Peter Dive bought the grade II-listed Rhiw Goch inn in Trawsfynydd after “falling in love” with the area while visiting on regular holidays.

He bought the inn, along with the accompanying buildings and land, including lodges, a barn and a bungalow, for £200,000 at auction in February.

He claims his family, originally from Suffolk, are now sleeping in the bungalow on air beds on the floor and living without heating or carpets after the Eryri National Park Authority informed him he must stop his renovations immediately.

Mr Dive said he planned to renovate the inn and reopen a bar and restaurant, reinstate tobogganing and ski slopes, and install glamping pods, bell tents and plots for caravans.

He also wanted to operate a restaurant in a temporary cladded structure in the inn's car park to partially fund eventual renovations – which he expects to cost in excess of £2 million.

He said he had got to work on renovating the bungalow building right away so that he, his wife and their three young children could live there in the short term.

But the Eryri National Park Authority soon served him a stop order, saying he must apply for full permission for any work as the properties are “within the curtilage of a listed building," which Mr Dive said came as a "huge shock" and has left him "swamped with red tape."

Mr Dive said his family has moved in with his children set to start in the local school in September, but now face "completely unlivable" conditions.

Eryri National Park Authority said it has had "lengthy communication" with Mr Dive but has never received a "valid and complete pre-application enquiry to enable officers to provide informed advice," while Mr Dive says he has provided the necessary pre-planning information and has paid a pre-application fee.

Mr Dive said he was "not naive" to the challenges he thought he might face when purchasing the property, but says he now owns “lots of derelict buildings and land” that he “can’t do anything with”, while his family is forced to live in a half-finished bungalow.

He said: “The whole point was to start building a viable business.... But I’m not making anything here at all now.

“I already had a contractor lined up. I had a Michelin-starred chef coming from London to cook there. We would have employed eight or nine people there. It was all lined up. It's so frustrating."It's a case of, can I do this? and the letters coming back are almost a copy and paste saying please put in pre-planning. I put in pre-planning weeks before they're telling me to put in the pre-planning." Mr Dive continued.

"It was our dream to create a pub and restaurant, accommodation, camping and glamping, and to just make it a hub really. Now every time I even plaster a wall my family are afraid I’m going to be arrested.

"I'm in a mind to sell it all off bit by it or give up and just wrap it up into a charity and give it to the national park authority, because they won't entertain me doing anything with it."

A spokesperson for the Eryri National Park Authority said: "Before embarking on new developments or work on or within the curtilage of a listed building, all the necessary consents required by law must be in place.

"Developers are encouraged to submit a pre-application enquiry on more complicated proposals, which is a statutory procedure, to the park authority’s planning service.

It continued: "Until planning officers are provided with an appropriate level of information and details about the proposals, they are unable to provide advice. Similarly, no planning application has been received by the Authority either.

"All planning decisions are guided by national legislation and planning guidance relating to listed buildings and the statutory Local Development Plan (LDP). The LDP applies to anyone wishing to undertake new development.

"As we suspect there may be unauthorised development on this site, we have advised Mr Dive to cease any works until the necessary consent has been received.”

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