Neighbour row erupts as widow, 74, locked in war over front garden flower bed | UK | News
A retired widow is a strange word war in Scotland after being accused of violating the privacy of his neighbor because of a new planter in his front garden. 74 -year -old Jane Higgins put the plant in the front garden of the semi -detached house in Eastern Lothian and benefited from being decorated with their plants and flowers.
However, his family was shocked when he was told that they had to apply for retrospective planning permission for the flower bed because he filed a complaint. The objection presented by only one person claimed that the cultivation had “spent hours to join neighboring plants”. They also described it as a “disgusting dazzling” when it was founded in April this year. In addition, the complainant claimed that the garden had become a “paradise” for cats using the “garbage tray”, that cat fights occurred overnight and caused “extreme noise”.
At first, Jane’s family thought that the complaint was a joke, especially when they said they needed planning approval.
Jane’s family said that she spends time in the garden every day and defines a 7m long 0.9m wide and 0.8m high wooden planting.
Fortunately, after spending a few hundred pounds on architect and planning fees, Jane was allowed to protect her planter.
In his decision, a planning officer for the Eastern Lothian Regional Council wrote: “The raised cultivation is only 0.8 m high from the public road to the northwest and similar to the surrounding border storage in high and general appearance.
“Raising cultivation is therefore not suitable for the garden environment and is not harmful to the character and appearance of the house, or it is not harmful to the character and appearance of the Aberlady protection area.”
Planners, parking disruptions, cat noise and property damage does not take into account, he added.
After allowing, 54 -year -old Craig Higgins described the line as “ridiculous” and added that the family remained in “disbelief about everything”.
“This is just crazy. My mother put the plant in and we didn’t think it would need a planning permission for it in a million years,” he said. “But the Council wrote to him and told him that he had an objection, so we had to get a planning permission.
“We laughed at the beginning because we thought it was a mistake. But it appeared and caused a lot of stress.
“I have an architect that I know to do this, and when I told him the story, he thought it was ugly.
“After being sent, we heard it again in about eight weeks to say that we received permission.
“It was ridiculous in a ridiculous way. There are only some plants, flowers and a few ornaments. There was a little bit in the backyard, but that made the first way.”
Craig described his mother, a retired widow who has been living at home for 20 years, as a woman who loves to spend time in the front and backyard and “very community spirit”, “well with all other neighbors”.
