Turn your garden back into wasteland, couple told

A COUPLE who spent £22,000 transforming an eyesore piece of waste ground next to their home into their own personal paradise have had their dreams shattered by council chiefs.

Adam and Barbara Keatinge invested their life savings buying the plot to turn it into a private area for them and their family of four to enjoy.

But now they have been ordered to return it to its original waste ground condition.

The couple, who have lived in their detached property for eight years, erected a fence and created a landscaped garden at the property in Livingston, West Lothian.

They believed they would not need planning permission.

But they were devastated when West Lothian Council asked them to return the land to its original wasteland state.

The couple appealed to the Scottish Government to save their project but planners sided with West Lothian Council and set a three-month deadline for work to be completed.

Mr Keatinge, a linen firm manager, said: ‘Our solicitor informed us they had dealt with the sale of two of the adjoining plots at the top of our estate that had been converted into extended gardens and that as our change of land use was the same then planning permission should not be required.’

Mr Keatinge and his wife, who is a teacher, said the whole episode had been exhausting.

He added: ‘It has cost us a lot of money and time for a strip of land that is being used as a dumping ground.’

West Lothian Council said: ‘The change of use and erection of the fence was refused planning permission.’

Sue Bell, Scottish Government reporter, noted the financial outlay the couple made, but was clear they did not have permission for the private garden and said it did not justify development of the land.

‘Being used as a dumping ground