Couple flout planning laws by hiding home behind garage door
A COUPLE disguised a small secret home as a garage in an attempt to dupe council planners.
Dr Reeta Herzallah, 37, and partner Hamdi Almasri, 39, concealed the tiny detached property behind a fake garage door. A court heard the couple also used a fence to hide the house that had been converted from a garage at their property in Enderby, Leicestershire.
The couple, who have been under investigation by Blaby District Council since October 2015, have now been ordered to pay more than £2,000. After failing to attend court or enter pleas, they were convicted of a raft of planning breaches in their absence at Leicester Magistrates’ Court. They were ordered to pay a £700 fine, £1,252 in legal costs and a £77 victim surcharge. The pair will also have to restore the garage to its former use.
It was also heard how the couple had created an unauthorised vehicle access onto a dual-carriageway. After receiv- ing reports of the breaches in October 2015, Blaby District Council approached Herzallah and Almasri in an attempt to rectify the situation.
The pair submitted a retrospective planning application in July 2016, but this was rejected and dismissed on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate in February last year. In May and June, they undertook some “remedial works”, but follow-up inspections in July, August and November showed that no work had been done to the garage, leading the council to seek prosecution.
Councillor Sheila Scott, the council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “If you breach planning regulations and ignore us, we will not just go away.”