A 100-year-old Women’s Institute has gone to war with a ‘party house’ next door after a plunge pool and hot tub were installed in its garden.
The 47-member branch has been using the Women’s Institute Hall behind a former youth hostel in Wells Next The Sea, Norfolk, since the 1920s.
But their peace was shattered when the site was converted into a £4,000-a-week private rental which can sleep up to 20 guests.
Despite multiple objections, plans were approved for the conversion and a plunge pool last year after the new owner, architect Tom Leahy, purchased the property for £400,000 in April 2024.
Mr Leahy has now applied for retrospective planning permission for further changes to the site, including moving the pool to within a few feet of the Women’s Institute Hall and adding a hot tub and outdoor kitchen area with a pizza oven and BBQ.
Wells WI complained the pool has been ‘turned 90 degrees’ and now blocks off an area previously used by its members.
It added that noise and loss of parking could negatively impact their ‘sustainability’ if members are put off by the potentially rowdy neighbours.
Furious locals have also hit back at the plans, with 18 objections having been lodged against the planning application so far.
Janet Macnab, Jean Davies and Thelma Short at the Wells Women’s Institute Hall, which is currently locked in a bitter planning row with a ‘party house’ next door
A neighbouring ex-youth hostel (pictured) in Wells Next The Sea, Norfolk, which has been converted into a £4,000-a-week private rental
Plans were approved for the conversion and a plunge pool (pictured) last year. But WI members claim the pool has since been turned 90 degrees so it now blocks off an area they once used
Wells WI said it ‘strongly objected’ to the changes and claimed the ‘unapproved’ alterations have left them no space to park or turn around outside the hall.
In a letter to the council, it said: ‘The Wells WI is a vital community organisation providing the town with support for its members, many of whom are elderly.
‘Given the close proximity of the plunge pool, its occupants and the noise being generated, this will undoubtedly impact adversely on our current membership and will also affect our future membership and, eventually, our sustainability.’
Wells Town Council has also lodged an objection and told North Norfolk District Council there was ‘fervent opposition’ to the development.
Town clerk Emma Gunhouse added: ‘The council stands by its objections to the original application and fervently protests against these recent alterations which ride roughshod over the Wells neighbourhood plan and the human rights of the members of the Wells Women’s Institute.
‘A recent inspection of the site revealed that work had already taken place to create an extensive area of hard landscaping not included in the original submission, which is the source of this retrospective application.’
Speaking previously, Thelma Short, 83, who said she had been using the WI hall for 20 years, said: ‘We won’t be able to get to it, old people like me carrying a cake down. It’s heart-breaking.’
Another objector said: ‘It is plain to see that the developer is proceeding with highly inappropriate works without planning consent as detailed in previous comments and without due regard to the right for any of our private and family lives.’
A hot tub and outdoor kitchen area with a pizza oven and BBQ (pictured) have also been added to the former youth hostel development
The pool at the so called ‘party house’ private rental property is currently under construction
They added alterations including a hot tub and pizza oven would turn the property into ‘an outdoor activity centre with sleeping accommodation attached’.
Another neighbour added: ‘The WI plays an important role in the community of Wells, and meetings in the hall provide companionship, an opportunity to exchange information, to learn, support, laughter thereby supporting the mental wellbeing of members.
‘If members cannot access the hall safely and readily, they will not come to meetings. This will be to the detriment of their wellbeing and mental health. If numbers decline sufficiently, the Wells WI may be forced to fold.’
Mr Leahy, who owns the land WI members previously parked on, said he had widened the drive from 2m to 3m as they had requested, but added: ‘What is true is they have to reverse out, which is more challenging.
‘Before this more recent upset I’d offered the WI one of the spaces on Church Plain, even two they could use on the days that they meet.’
He claimed a lot of fears about the project were ‘unfounded’, adding: ‘The plunge pool is well over a metre from their building.’
Mr Leahy said the pool was rotated because two manhole covers were found when gravel was being cleared from the car park, which have access to the WI Hall’s drains, and these could not be built on.
He added fear over fire risks were an ‘over worry’.
The Wells WI Hall which sits directly behind the converted youth hostel
Building work at the former youth hostel, which was purchased by architect Tom Leahy for £400,000 in April 2024
‘It’s perfectly common to have these things,’ he said. ‘They’re all products which have passed safety standards. I would think most gardens in the country would have a barbecue of some sort.’
While work is in progress inside and outside of the property, it is already being advertised to prospective guests priced £3,938 a week to rent by the Finest Retreats website.
Its listing says it has been turned into ‘a bright, modern house full of unique spaces for entertaining and sleeping up to 20 guests’.
It adds: ‘With a generous living and dining room, outdoor pool, hot tub and alfresco kitchen, it’s a superb choice for retreats, corporate trips or gatherings of family and friends.’
Mr Leahy, who operates six similar businesses across the country, said fears over noise from the site were unfounded.
He said his properties had noise monitors fitted and guests received text messages warning them if they exceeded agreed levels and those that did not comply would lose their deposits.
‘It’s not a problem that causes amenity loss,’ he said. ‘It gets controlled and managed by us within 10 minutes.’
Mr Leahy, who bought the former youth hostel for £400,000 in April 2024, said he did not expect the application would be turned down.
‘I recognise the worries but I really do encourage people to give us a chance,’ he said. ‘Because everywhere else we operate we do a really good job.’
The hostel, which closed in around 2020, was sold for £400,000 in April to a buyer described as ‘experienced boutique hoteliers’.
North Norfolk District Council will make a decision on the application on a future date.
