Man was refused planning permission for a home so built a lighthouse despite living nowhere near the coast

Take a look around this very unusual home, in the video above (click to play). In the video, Phil Austin, 83, explains how he built the inland lighthouse, after he was barred from building a conventional home by his planning authority.

Mr Austin has maintained his 35ft high red and white beacon on the banks of the beautiful Bridgewater Canal, in Greater Manchester, for 20 years. The retired management consultant enjoys watching vessels from his lantern room as they navigate the waterway below him.

Speaking about his lighthouse, Phil said: “It’s still judged as a landmark and I’m very proud of it. The views from the top are really good, and I write a lot of poetry up there.

“I still get people wandering down the towpath on the other side, and they all stop and have selfies with the lighthouse behind them. It is a nice quiet place to go up and sit if I want to muse, away from TV and radio. So it’s a place of solace."

Phil had the idea to build his lighthouse in the village of Monton after he bought a small patch of wasteland from a friend who left the area. The great-grandad had spent around five years living on a boat opposite the plot running next to the river, and he had big ambitions to build a home on it.

But his local authority rejected his original designs for a property, saying he would need to make a structure 'out of stone' for it to be accepted. And it was only when he suggested creating a lighthouse that they finally gave him the green light.

Phil said: “When I first contacted the planning department, they had a look at the drawings and said, ‘I’m afraid not Mr Austin, you’re on the edge of a conservation area. We can’t allow you to build anything.’

“So I was a bit disappointed. But I suppose if you built something out of stone, we could get away with that. I thought for a few weeks, driving to and from work, ‘A stone building with water?’ And obviously, the word ‘lighthouse’ crept into the back of my mind. 

"At first I thought it was stupid, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. I contacted the council and they said, ‘Yes, you can go ahead with it’.”

Phil said he had consulted an architect who told him the dimensions that the tall narrow structure would need to be to stay up. And he then enlisted the help of a builder to finish the project over the next few years.

He said: “When I’d got permission to build it, I looked under ‘L’ for lighthouse keepers in the Yellow Pages. 

"And would you believe it, there wasn’t a single lighthouse builder. But I did find an architect who did me some calculations on wall thickness and applied for outlying planning permission which I got.

“Then I had to find a builder. He did the actual laying of the blocks because it’s made from concrete blocks and then rendered on top. Over the next two years or so, a bit at a time, he built the three stories.

“I put the doors and ceilings and windows in, and then I put the wooden top floor on and covered that in mirrored aluminium.”

Phil’s finished lighthouse is around 14ft in diameter at its widest, while the room on the top floor is only about 7ft wide. And after the building was completed, it became a must-see tourist destination -  helping to boost trade for local businesses.

Following its success, the council later relented and let Phil build a two-bed bungalow next to the lighthouse where he now lives.

Phil added: “It’s lifted the whole area. The pub across from me has expanded tremendously. They now have a big room called the Lighthouse Lounge, and it’s completely changed the whole corner.”