PKC decision drives snooker fan potty
A Perth resident has had his latest plans to put his snooker table in his back garden snookered by the planning appeals system.
Perth and Kinross Council has played hard ball with keen snooker player Paul Dix, who has now been denied clearance for a snooker shed twice.
Both applications went to appeal with the latest being rejected by last week’s meeting of the local review body (LRB).
The most recent application reduced the footprint of his original shed by 2.8sqm with a double garage door which would open to allow “cueing” action.
The application was for a shed 4.5 metres by 5.6 metres with a maximum height of three metres to house his 12 foot by six foot table.
Again, in his appeal, Mr Dix offered to sign “a disclaimer promising to dismantle the shed” should he and his family move to a new house “without such strange garden rules.”
Neither of the shed applications received objections and Mr Dix says he only had to seek planning permission to build the shed in his 70sqm Cherrybank garden because he lives in a newbuild estate.
The officers calculated the shed would take up just over a third of the garden’s footprint leaving 43sqm. According to PKC’s placemaking guide, it is recommended threebedroomed houses such as Mr Dix’s have 80sqm of garden space.
In their report, a PKC officer wrote: “The existing rear 70 sqm private amenity space as originally constructed is less than the expected size and as such permitted development rights were removed. A standard-sized shed could be accommodated within the rear garden, however, I would expect this to be of a standard size suitable for storing garden tools and not to the scale proposed.”
In his appeal, Mr Dix pointed out a neighbour has two sheds and a conservatory but did not need planning permission yet he just sought planning permission for one shed.
Planning officers objected because of the shed’s “excessive footprint” and said it would affect the “amenity area of the existing house”.
Considering the appeal at last week’s LRB, Cllr Richard Watters thought the shed would be “very dominant”.
Cllr Willie Wilson, who represents Perth South, said he had regularly visited the area in his role as a local councillor and felt there was almost a “Heinz 75 variety” of additional developments within the back gardens, comprising of play equipment, greenhouses, sheds and conservatories.
He said: “The applicant has made an attempt to reduce the size of the shed. You can only reduce the size of the shed to a certain degree if you want to play snooker.”
He added: “There are no objections and the shed can be dismantled if folks get fed up playing snooker or decide to move.”
Cllr Henry Anderson who convenes the LRB and refused the appeal last time, said: “I appreciate them coming back with a new application. But this is not a shed, it’s a building comparable to a garage.”
He said putting it in “a garden that size” would be “very much like putting a quart into a pint pot.”
The appeal was rejected by two votes to one.
On hearing the news, Mr Dix said: “It’s just ridiculous and insane. It’s my garden I was going to put decking all the way round it. It would look the business.”
The snooker fan will not rest until he gets his snooker table up and is willing to have another shot with PKC’s planning department. He hopes planners will not baulk at his third application and will finally give him a break.