A Wakefield homeowner faces a fine of up to £20,000 if she refuses to remove a 4ft plastic gorilla statue proudly displayed at the front of her house.
Adele Teale, 59, is now in a battle with the council after someone complained about Caeser, the primate figurine, to the local authority.
The resin gorilla, which stands on all fours on a plinth outside Adele's terraced home in Stanley, West Yorkshire, needs to be removed within four weeks, or else she will face legal action and a fine.
Mother of one Adele Teale has been in a month-long wrangle with the council over Caesar's future and told GB News "the world has gone mad" in the demands being made to remove a "harmless" gorilla from the front of her own property.
"I got told by Wakefield Council to remove Caeser last September because he is out-of-character with the area and doesn't fit in; I think a neighbour must have complained," she said.
"I hadn't then heard anything from the council in months but now have been told that the gorilla needs to come down by 9th June or I could face a fine of £20,000 or even go to court about it because of planning permission.
"I don't understand why Caeser has to go through; he's on my property, and I get that he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I think he's cool, and the kids that go by love him.
"He's on my house, facing into my garden, so he's not going to fall over, and is so light I could easily lift him up anyway.
Adele Teale faces a fine of up to £20,000
|SUPPLIED
"There's a lot worse in people's gardens that the council should be sorting, like rubbish, washing machines, fridges, dog muck, and all sorts.
"What's going on in the world at the moment? The council are fussed about a plastic gorilla on my property; the world has gone mad. I really can't believe all this fuss over a plastic gorilla that's absolutely harmless."
Adele works for Leeds City Council and said the authority had no problem and no planning requirements for Caeser when she displayed him outside her Belle Isle home near the city. He sat outside her former property for 15 years without complaint.
The gorilla now sits securely on a wooden plinth between the two upstairs windows of her two-bedroom terraced house in Stanley, but the council has raised objections.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The gorilla sits securely on a plinth between the two upstairs windows
|SUPPLIED
Adele received a letter from the local authority on May 27, 2025, informing her of a complaint about an “animal structure” erected on her property. The council cited the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and said Caesar may have required planning permission.
The homeowner says she called the council several times to discuss a retrospective planning application but “never heard back" and later received an enforcement notice on July 10, 2025, that said Caesar is “a prominent, eye-catching structure and is out of character with the surrounding area”.
The council claimed Caesar threatens the greenbelt and “has made a negative effect on the area’s landscape”.
Adele appealed the decision, but on May 12, she received an email from the Planning Inspectorate saying they refused it and upheld the enforcement notice. The planning officer claimed Caesar “constitutes” a “development” due to its “size, degree of permanence, and physical attachment” to her property.
However, Adele wants Caesar to remain where he is, sitting above a sign that reads "The Gorilla House, What Goes Around Comes Around".
She said: "I could take him down and put him somewhere else – he used to be out in the garden, and I kept having to move him, but now he's out the front, and I think, why should I move him again? It's not hurting anyone; it's bolted down and not going to fall. I like something quirky, and really, it’s a garden ornament just like a Christmas tree. It’s my house, and it's for me to display what I want in my own garden; I don’t need the council getting involved over a garden ornament.
"Who are they to tell me what to do in my own house? I'm 59, and I've never heard something so stupid in my life. There's a man with a 20ft shark on top of his roof in Oxford with no questions asked, but here they are going absolutely crazy over a 4ft plastic gorilla."
As the planning inspector deems the statue and supporting structure required “planning permission” and it is now considered a “breach of planning control”, Adele now has to remove the statue by June 9, 2026, or she could be slapped with a £20,000 maximum fine if imposed by the magistrates' court.
Joe Jenkinson, Wakefield Council's Service Director for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Highways, said: "We have to investigate all complaints. And we appreciate that not everyone will agree, but under planning rules this required planning permission.
"The Planning Inspectorate is completely independent of the Council, and having looked at it impartially, have dismissed the owner's appeal and upheld the enforcement notice.
"This means the gorilla statue will need to be removed from its current site within four weeks.
"No-one is asking her to get rid of Caesar. It just can’t go there.”
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter