A man has reportedly been told to reconstruct a wall and garden outside his home that he knocked down to make himself a driveway.
David Lynch, who lives in Blackford, Edinburgh, had taken away nearly 50 cubic metres of soil and vegetation from his sloping garden to make room for parking spaces without the necessary permissions.
However, after his retrospective planning application was rejected, the council ruled that everything must be restored, reported Edinburgh Live.
Following an appeal, councillors reviewing the case acknowledged that rebuilding the boundary wall and garden would incur “significant expense”.
But they stated that the works carried out were “egregious”, and that he should have asked for full planning consent first.
The excavation, removal of the wall, and construction of the car run-in for the Ladysmith Road property were completed last year.
Mr Lynch claimed that work only commenced after he was informed by planning officers that it would be a ‘permitted development’ requiring a simple certificate of lawfulness.
In his appeal statement, he mentioned that officials later informed him that since work had already begun, a full application for planning permission would be required.
He was then told by another planner that a lawfulness certificate would suffice. After this was refused, Mr Lynch’s retrospective plans were submitted and subsequently rejected.
The council concluded that the works were “not compatible with the existing dwelling and surrounding neighbourhood character”.
Mr Lynch said the judgement of council planners had been “inconsistent” during the process and added “a subjective interpretation of policies” was applied by them.
He stated: “We have, throughout this long process, sought to do the right thing; seeking and taking advice from planning and roads departments, to ensure we complied with planning regulations.
“The fact that it is now 16 months since we began the process and the situation remains unresolved has caused us considerable stress and anxiety.”
Edinburgh Council planning officer Gina Bellhouse informed the local review body on Wednesday (September 27) that upholding the refusal would result in the authority “asking for the land to be returned to its original form”.
Local councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, SNP, said she was surprised that neighbours had not complained about the extensive work around the property.
She told Edinburgh Live: “I actually find the extent of this quite shocking. I’m a bit surprised there had been no comments by neighbours. The fact that many cubic metres of soil have been removed, I’m just worried about the impact of water run-off, I’m worried about the impact on neighbouring properties to be honest.
“I would be upholding the decision and asking this to be returned as closely as possible to what had been there before.”
Liberal Democrat Councillor Alan Beal emphasised the importance of the planning process, saying that its “whole point” was to prevent people from breaching policy in this way. He added: “Here it’s clearly in breach of all of it.”
