A father-of-two has been left “shell-shocked” after Portsmouth City Council gave him verbal permission to start construction on his dream home – then issued him with a huge bill. Graham Wrighton, 42, who runs his own brickwork company, received a demand for £61,832 after beginning work on the four-bedroom family home.
Mr Wrighton said that council officials indicated he would receive planning approval in December 2025. However, he alleges that the council missed its own deadline, and 158 days later, he has yet to receive any formal communication or official planning consent. The £61,832 bill is for a Community Infrastructure Levy, which applies to most new building projects and helps to fund schools, roads, and medical services near developments. People building their own homes can be exempt from the charge.
Mr Wrighton would have qualified for an exemption from this levy had the council granted his planning permission as initially expected, as he started work on the home after that date. He said he had no choice but to begin construction when he did because he would have lost his mortgage otherwise.
Mr Wrighton knocked down the existing house in Drayton to make way for a new building. The builder and bricklayer bought the property in October 2025 for £425,000, has spent around £100,000 so far, and believes it could cost another £200,000 to finalise the work. He has been living in a static caravan in the back garden with his partner Stacy Gillespie and their son and daughter while the works are ongoing.
He said it has “always been my ambition to build my own house”. Mr Wrighton put the planning permission application in straight away and said the Portsmouth City Council case officer said it would be approved, with a deadline in December 2025. His architect James Potter, of James Potter Associates, chased the council in the days before the December deadline as they had been waiting to start work due to the “unbelievably slow” council. But the deadline passed with no communication from the council, according to Mr Wrighton and Mr Potter.
Mr Wrighton said: "I then got on with it and have been chasing and chasing ever since." He had to start the works in order to transfer his mortgage. Currently the house is watertight and has a solid roof but Mr Wrighton wants to start on the inside work so it can be completed by the end of the summer.
He said: “I feel like I have been done over by them asking for the £61,000. I was just shell-shocked when I saw it come through. You can just never trust anyone. My solicitor has called and messaged the council again and again and not got a formal reply. It is absolutely unbelievable to ignore the solicitor. James [Potter] has spoken to some councillors but we don't think we are really going anywhere. His emails saying 'you are ignoring me' have been ignored. He is obviously doing everything that he can.”
Mr Wrighton admitted that he understood the risks and the consequences of beginning work before the planning permission had officially gone through. However, he said: "This is our family home. My family are begging to move into their family home."
Mr Potter said: "The council are ghosting him, it is diabolical." Mr Potter added: "Graham’s application was expected to receive permission in December 2025, yet despite the Council’s case officer confirming the drawings are approvable, months have passed without any meaningful update to either ourselves or his planning solicitor. Delays of this nature are unacceptable, costly, and create huge worry for applicants. The rules surrounding CIL exemptions are equally frustrating. Requiring applicants to formally notify the Council of a start date or risk losing their exemption places excessive weight on procedural technicalities that many ordinary homeowners simply do not understand. In reality, the key issue should be when the development is completed so the three-year timeframe can be managed, not whether a form was submitted at the correct moment. Tens of thousands of pounds is how the council rewards such mistakes to applicants, and in Graham’s instance it was £61,000."
Portsmouth Council has been contacted for comment.
