‘Gutted’: Gorilla-mad mum loses battle to keep 'landmark' four-foot ape statue

A defiant homeowner has lost a battle with the council to keep her beloved four-foot-tall gorilla landmark on the front of her house.

Last month Adele Teale, 59, was ordered by Wakefield Council to remove the 4kg resin figure from outside her two-bedroom terraced home within four weeks or face legal action or a £20,000 fine.

And after an unsuccessful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate she has finally removed the ape - which she called Caesar - to comply with the enforcement notice.

The mum-of-one, from Stanley, Wakefield, said that later this month he will be moving down to Mayfair, London, where he will be put on display inside a large store indefinitely.

The 'Gorilla-mad' householder said: "I can't believe all this fuss has been made over a plastic gorilla.

"Ceasar is a landmark for the area, I was gutted to have to take him down. I feel better for doing so as the whole thing with the council has caused me a lot of stress.

"I love gorillas, I think they're amazing and Caesar makes me smile - he makes me happy."

Adele has told how Caesar sat outside her previous home in Belle Isle, Leeds, for 15 years without an issue before she sold him when she moved to Stanley six years ago.

When she bought him back for £600 in August 2024 Adele re-erected Caesar securely to a wooden plinth between the two upstairs windows of her two-bedroom terraced house four months later in December.

But on May 27 last year, Adele received a letter from Wakefield Council Planning Services stating Cesar was "out-of-character with the surrounding area".

An enforcement notice was then handed to Adele on July 10, 2025, ordering her to remove Ceasar which she appealed a month later on August 11.

Despite this Adele was told over email on May 12 this year that the Planning Inspectorate refused it and upheld the enforcement notice and that it required planning permission under the 1990 Act.

In the decision, following a site visit on April 28, it stated it was previously disputed whether the statue and wooden support structure were a development and required planning permission under the 1990 Act.

But the planning officer claimed that Caesar "constitutes" a "development" due to its "size, degree of permanence, and physical attachment" to her property.

Joe Jenkinson, Wakefield Council’s Service Director for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Highways, previously 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."