From the outside it may not look like much – a tangle of metal boxes in a remote Welsh yard weathered by salty winds next to a field of goats and sheep.
Inside, though, it is extraordinary. The structure turns out to be four shipping containers ingeniously linked to create a cosy, if eccentric, home for 65-year-old Stephen Gibbons, complete with wood-burning stove, well-used sofas and a polished dining table, plus a collection of stuffed birds – and fake grass for carpet.
But if the local authority, Newport city council, gets its way, Gibbons, who has lived here for 30 years and partly brought up four children in this unusual spot, will have to abandon the structure because he did not have planning permission for the dwelling.
“It’s terrible what they are trying to do,” said Gibbons. “It feels very vindictive of the council. I’ve lived here quietly for 30 years, not harming anybody. I haven’t tried to hide – there’s a chimney, washing on the line and you can see me on Google Earth. But they’re trying to make out I’ve built this secretly.”
Gibbons points out that creating spaces out of shipping containers is all the rage. “They have them all along the harbour in Bristol [Cargo on Wapping Wharf – a trendy base for restaurants and shops]. They’re catching up.”
He says he may try to carry on fighting the decision and perhaps even attempt to put his home on wheels to get around planning rules. “I think that would be quite simple,” he said. “It might come to that.”
Gibbons, who worked for years in recycling, said he decided to create his unusual home in 1992 after a family break-up. “It seemed the best option.”
Its location is wonderful, a few miles south of Newport city centre in the Gwent Levels, a low-lying land close to the Severn estuary, home to otters, water voles and wading birds, that was drained by the Romans to create a breadbasket for their army before a push into the Welsh mountains.
Although Gibbons insists he did not try to hide his home from the planners, it is tricky to spot the place. It is sited behind a drainage ditch with a brambly hedge in front, and access to the yard where his home sits is via another structure housing two vintage tractors.
Gibbons’ place is Tardis-like, much bigger inside than it appears from the outside, a series of living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen. He has insulated it carefully, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It has power and a septic tank. The world seems far away, perhaps because there are no windows. “You can get away from the rat race here.”
At least until officialdom came calling. In January 2021, Gibbons was served a notice ordering him to stop using the shipping containers as his home. Newport council also claimed he was doing car repairs on the site, which he denies, insisting he was just fixing up his vintage tractors. He appealed against the notice to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), claiming that the dwelling was immune from enforcement action due to the length of time it had existed.
PEDW found in the council’s favour and commented that “those positive acts of deception and deliberate concealment should deprive the appellant from gaining immunity”.
The claim that he secretly built his home particularly rankles. Gibbons counts himself a good citizen who tries to help his neighbours, keeping fly-tipped rubbish off the shared private drive and recently helping capture an escaped bull. Most neighbours have made it clear they backed him over the council.
He also points out that he has worked closely with the council in the past when he worked as a recycler and had been visited by officers over the years, which led him to believe his home was legitimate. “I don’t hide myself away,” he said.
Cllr James Clarke, cabinet member for strategic planning, housing and regulation at Newport council, said he was pleased PEDW agreed with the council’s assessment that the structure was erected without permission and deliberately concealed in order to bypass regulations.
“Planning regulations are in place for good reasons,” he said. “They seek to protect all of us against inappropriate development and this decision demonstrates that deliberate acts to deceive and mislead will be found out.”
Gibbons is hoping for a reprieve. “Of course I’m proud of my home – it has taken me a long time to get it like this,” he said. “What is the sense in me destroying it now?”
