Woman told to take down a 4ft gorilla called Caesar from outside her home

A ‘gorilla-mad’ homeowner is fighting to get her beloved four-foot resin statue back up outside of her home after the council demanded she remove it.

Adele Teale, 58, first erected the 4kg resin figure named Caesar outside her two-bedroom terraced home last year, and said it instantly became a popular feature with locals.

But Wakefield Council put a stop to the statue, ordering it to be removed because it’s ‘out-of-character with the surrounding area’.

Adele said her prized statue previously sat outside her old home in Belle Isle, Leeds, for 15 years without an issue before she sold it when she moved to Stanley, Wakefield, in 2020.

After buying him back for £600 in August last year, she put Caesar on display on a wooden plinth between her upstairs windows.

But on May 27, Adele received a letter from Wakefield Council Planning Services regarding a complaint that an ‘animal structure’ had been built on her property.

Adele said: ‘I just don’t understand what the issue is. He is nothing more than a garden ornament. He is secure up there – he has been screwed and glued in place.

‘The council says it’s ‘structural’ but he can be taken down – I could put a Christmas tree up there if I wanted. I own the house, it’s mine, so surely I can have whatever I want outside to decorate it.’

Adele said her neighbours haven’t raised issues about it, and children love to walk past to see Caesar.

In the letter, the council advised that she take down Caesar due to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, suggesting she may have required planning permission to have built him.

It also said she should contact the council within seven days regarding the matter so they could evaluate if she needed to send a retrospective planning application.

The mum said she tried to reach the council over the phone on several occasions but claims she never heard back.

Adele was then handed an enforcement notice on July 10, demanding she remove Caesar. She appealed on August 11.

The notice claimed Caesar is an ‘obtrusive feature on the residential street’ which ‘fails to respect the character and appearance of the surrounding area’.

Though the council say that Caesar has ’caused harm to the greenbelt’ and ‘has made a negative effect on the area’s landscape’.

Adele, who works for Leeds City Council’s passenger travel, said: ‘It was on the outside wall of my house for years and there wasn’t ever any problem.

‘I just really don’t understand what the issue is now we’ve moved here. I got him from a pet supplies store in 2005 – he just stood out to me, I just thought he was beautiful.

‘I love gorillas, I think they’re amazing and Caesar makes me smile – he makes me happy.’

Adele, who lives with husband Trevor and son, Billy, said even the binmen shout out ‘Save Caesar’.

Joe Jenkinson, Wakefield Council’s Service Director for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Highways, said: ‘We appreciate that not everyone will agree, but under planning rules this is not classed as a minor decorative feature.

‘It’s also out of character with the surrounding area. So, it requires planning permission. As an appeal has already been made, the notice has not taken effect and will only do so if the appeal is dismissed.’

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