Devastated parents have hit out at ‘disgusting’ council red tape after they were refused planning permission for their children’s Wendy house.
Michael Heron and Jenna Hulme spent £239 on the play area for their one-year-old daughter Remie and four-year-old son Jacob, and put it in their front garden.
But bosses at Oldham Council have ruled that the toy is an ‘unacceptable development’.
Whoever it is, could you please hurry up with the construction?
Hmmm, council says:
“‘Written objections we received show that other residents had significant concerns about its visual impact and, on balance, we agreed with that concern, particularly in view of the fact that the timber fence at this site that surrounds the Wendy house is also unauthorised and out of character with its surroundings…”
So it’s not just the kid’s toy, is it?
Replace fence with tall hedge (which doesn’t require planning permission) and move Wendy house every 27 days, making it a’temporary building’
The photo I saw yesterday suggested to me that it was in the back garden. Or at least that they had turned the garden into looking like a back garden. It also opened the possibility that it provided a window that allowed the children to look over the fence into the neighbour’s garden. Anyway, once you let a jobsworth turn a blind eye to one breach, soon he’ll have bribes – or threats – to let him turn more blind eyes.
What would you say, Tim, if a blind eye had been turned to Councillor Murphy’s wendy house?
>The photo I saw yesterday suggested to me that it was in the back garden. Or at least that they had turned the garden into looking like a back garden.
You can see cars over the fence, so probably a front garden that now looks like a back garden.
> It also opened the possibility that it provided a window that allowed the children to look over the fence into the neighbour’s garden.
Ha! For those who don’t realize DM is being tongue-in-cheek, you can look over the fence anyway.
>the timber fence at this site that surrounds the Wendy house is also unauthorised and out of character with its surroundings
Seriously? You need permission to put up a standard timber fence?
It looks to me like they’ve put up a timber fence across the front of the property instead of railings or a picket fence, because they want privacy for their kid to play. And some snobby neighbours don’t like that, or the playhouse. (So a hedge probably would be a solution.)
Written objections we received show that other residents had significant concerns about its visual impact…
Ah, gotta love the UK. No doubt nearby residents were concerned about the impact on the value of their own houses or, maybe, they were just concerned somebody might be about to have a little fun without permission from the authorities.
What a nation of snivelling little shit-weasels Britain is.
Tel: “Seriously? You need permission to put up a standard timber fence?”
If you want to erect a taller one than all your neighbours, yes.
Tim Newman: “What a nation of snivelling little shit-weasels Britain is.”
Why do you think this man should get away with breaking the rules everyone else has to obey?
I like the keep moving it suggestion. Just make sure they don’t try issuing parking tickets!
“you can look over the fence anyway.” Not a four year-old.
The point is Julia that none of us should be obeying their bullshit rules.
Yes there is common decency–not to open a slaughterhouse in your back garden say. But how often does that happen?
Why do you think this man should get away with breaking the rules everyone else has to obey?
I don’t. If he’s broken the rules, let the authorities deal with him. It’s his neighbours rushing to denounce him that I can’t stand.
Didn’t everyone get taught this at primary school? Writing your name on the wall gets you a bollocking, but snitching on the boy writing his name on the wall is far worse.
Tim Newman: “If he’s broken the rules, let the authorities deal with him. It’s his neighbours rushing to denounce him that I can’t stand.”
How are the authorities supposed to know he’s broken the rules if they don’t?
Mr Ecks: “The point is Julia that none of us should be obeying their bullshit rules.”
Presumably they aren’t ‘bullshit rules’. They are there for a reason.
Biggest question for me is what the fuck is a boy doing playing in a Wendy house?
How are the authorities supposed to know he’s broken the rules if they don’t?
By conducting occasional surveys or relying on the police or other civil servants to discover any such breaches. A handful of state employees ably assisted by a nation of snitches does not a happy place make.
Dongguan John
Maybe better if you don’t go there. You might be safe here, but ….
Julia m: “They are there for a reason.”
They are—so council pricks can steal from you, boss you about and show you who is boss and who really owns your property.
Of course, the neighbours might not mind the architectural changes; It may be the kids the can’t stand.
Are you suggesting planning permission for sprogs, nautical nick?
JuliaM,
Do you live in Huddersfield Road, Diggle by any chance?
DocBud, nope!
They don’t known how play the game.
Wheels, and padlocked to the fence.
I wonder what is in the back garden?
The idea that there shouldn’t be restrictions on what you can do with your own land in a densely-packed suburb is plain silly. There’s room for debate on what the rules should be. But I see no argument for not applying the rules even-handedly, which effectively means to everyone unless there’s some particular category of hard luck story overlooked when the rules were written, and then the matter should be in the hands of the councillors and resolved in public.
The idea that neighbours shouldn’t complain is childish; the idea of replacing them with some sort of prowling council witchfinder is even dafter.
The idea that neighbours shouldn’t complain is childish;
Until such time when a downright dangerous and illiberal law is brought in, and then the merits of *not* having encouraged a nation of snitches might become apparent.
the idea of replacing them with some sort of prowling council witchfinder is even dafter.
You don’t: you operate on the principle that the digression could be stumbled upon at any point, in which case action is taken. Although to some, it appears a nation of unauthorised wendy-houses is unbearable, yes, better to have all the neighbours twitching the curtains and phoning the council 24/7.
By the way, my point about the snitches is based on something I read about the Stasi in Germany (it might be from the film The Lives of Others. The actual Stasi were few in number, but they were able to control the minute aspect of peoples’ lives thanks to a vast network of informants who would rush to the telephone at the slightest hint of a transgression from their neighbours, friends, and colleagues. Frankly, I preferred the Germans when they were invading places, at least their character was out there for all to see.
Are people approaching this from the wrong angle. Isn’t the real question: “are they decent, normal, ‘like us’ types or are they yobbish, shouty people who have poor taste”?
I can’t be bothered to read the article – but if the former, then presumably Tim’s right? And, if it’s the latter, then surely Julia’s right…
Christ, Tim N, are you really comparing a pissed-off neighbour to the Stasi? That must be some sort of corollary to Godwin’s Law.
Tim N, are you really comparing a pissed-off neighbour to the Stasi?
No, I’m comparing the willingness of British residents to rush to inform the authorities of the slightest transgressions of their neighbours with that of East German citizens on which the Stasi relied to control the population. All Britain is missing is the Stasi, for now.
Bearing in mind that the house opposite seems to have an eight foot hedge at the front, that would seem to be the solution for this family.
Generally you can put up a new fence of up to 2m high without planning, the only restriction being that next to a road or path it can only be 1m without planning. So the fence at the front does look a bit high. The guy should reduce the front fence height to 1m, and buy the grottiest caravan he can find, paint it garish colours and put that in his front garden for his kids to play in, and tell the council and the nosy neighbours to fuck off.
Planning are pretty clueless and hopless every where it seems. The developer that bought ours and neighbours property subject to planning approval offered to pay us a lower figure after 4 months if we didn’t wait the (up to) 12 months in the contract , gladly we took it as 2 years later they still don’t have planning permission for the subdivide they wanted.
As for reporting neighbours the recent water restrictions in Vancouver caused a rash of complaints to the councils that become a media issue with advice to speak to people first. Even the councils seemed upset about the number of complaints, though likely that was because they didn’t have staff to deal with them.