Following his long campaign, the council have finally rejected a retrospective planning application, saying it was an eyesore and a road safety danger. Even though the decision had gone his way, Gary said: “I don’t consider it a victory because that’s not what it was about. I don’t have anything against my neighbour, this was all about the council and planning policy. If this application had been approved it would have set a precedent.” Gary, of Wakefield Road, Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, pointed out that a fence next to a highway needed planning permission if it was over a metre (3ft 3in) in height.
In parts the fence which surrounds the house next door is between two metres and 2.5 metres (8ft 2in) tall. Gary said drivers emerging from the driveway couldn’t see down the road until the last minute. Believing his protests were falling on deaf ears Gary went to extreme lengths to publicise his case, spending up to £1,500 on his one-man campaign. He put up a sign board with slogans and banners in his front garden and had a row of toy monkeys sitting on top. He also hired a planning consultant, set up a YouTube channel and hand-delivered 7,000 letters to homes and businesses across Kirklees.
YouTube link.
Refusing the application, the council’s decision notice said the height and design of the fence “fails to retain a sense of local identity and is not in keeping with the appearance and character of the street scene” and was “prejudicial to the visual amenity.” It said the fence to the front of the house was “harmful to highway safety” as was the fact that cars emerging from the gateway would have to slow down or stop on a busy main road. Gary said he now wanted the council to enforce the decision and order the fence be lowered or taken down.
3 comments:
Dude needs to get a hobby or smoke some weed.
No problem with his right to protest, after all the fence is both illegal an ridiculous. Nor do I have a problem with his criticism of the local authority, it took far too long for them to act. I do have a few other problems with the guy though; Firstly that several of his signs make so little sense that they appear to have been translated from from a foreign language info English via about four other languages on the way; Secondly that his "protest" is more of an eyesore than the contested fence; And finally that the whole thing cost him considerably more than taking legal action against his neighbour.
I take more offence at his signs than the fence. They don't even have the fascinating Jazz-poetry you get from running things through google translate too often. On that note, my mother (who was a languages teacher) was presented with work that talked about their bedroom and "a breast of knickers". She'd warned students about using dictionaries and not using their heads too.. took a while to work out it was a "chest of drawers".
Post a Comment