SIR PAUL McCARTNEY’S determination to save the log cabin he built without planning permission on his East Sussex estate has taken a new twist after he offered to bulldoze one of his houses.

Sir Paul is proposing the drastic action to resolve his long-running feud with the local planning authority, which wants to demolish his beloved wooden lodge and pavilion.

Sir Paul, 64, who is in the throes of an acrimonious divorce from his wife, Heather, said that as part of a planning deal he was also willing to knock down two eyesore barns.

He built the secluded two-bedroom cabin, plus a gym annexe, without permission in the grounds of his 933-acre Woodlands Farm at Peasmarsh, near Rye. He says that the buildings, nestling in woodland overlooking a pond, are vital to give him and his family privacy from prying eyes, but Rother District Council insists that they “harm the intrinsic landscape quality” of the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty.

The planning committee authorised enforcement action but deferred it until a meeting next month because of the revised application for retrospective planning permission.

At issue is a countryside planning policy that can allow rebuilding after demolition of a house, particularly when it relates to dwellings within a large agricultural holding.

Sir Paul is offering to bulldoze the three-bedroom detached house on his land, known as Beanacres, and is also offering to knock down two agricultural barns which “have a negative visual impact”. He says that demolishing the buildings “will more than compensate” for being allowed to keep his log cabin and pavilion.

A supporting statement on behalf of Sir Paul in one planning application said that he had “a requirement for privacy, seclusion and security” that the farmhouse buildings themselves could not provide “due to the proximity of the public footpath that passes by the farmhouse and through the farmyard and also the activities connected with the working farm and machinery movements creating noise disturbance and safety issues”.

For Sir Paul, said to be worth £750 million, and his estranged wife, the cabin, which reportedly cost more than £1 million, was the ultimate hideaway. The rest of the McCartney property portfolio consists of a townhouse in St John’s Wood, northwest London, a penthouse flat in Piccadilly, a Mull of Kintyre farm, a flat in New York and a ranch in Arizona.

Woodlands Farm has been the family home of Sir Paul, his late wife, Linda, and their children for more than 25 years.

Frank Rallings, the council’s head of planning, said: “Members considered the enforcement report and resolved to authorise an enforcement notice but defer any action that might be necessary until such time as the newly submitted planning application has been considered by and determined by the planning committee.

“In the event that the new application is granted then no further action will be taken in regard to the enforcement authorisation. Conversely, if the application is refused then action will be taken in issuing the enforcement notice and this will allow the landowner to appeal against both the planning refusal and the enforcement notice.”

Sir Paul’s spokesman was not available for comment.