Landowner ordered to pull down fishing hut
Council accused of hypocrisy over green belt developments
AHOMEOWNER has slammed Birmingham City Council for demanding a fishermen’s shelter on his land is torn down because it is not in keeping with the green belt.
He says it is hypocritical as the authority has allowed thousands of homes to be built on what were green belt fields nearby.
Graham Cadman, who lives off Lindridge Road, Sutton Coldfield, and runs the Lindridge Pool fishery, says he asked a council officer in 2016 whether he could build a shelter at the site after two previous marquees had blown away.
He claims he was told “as long as the structure had no windows and no doors and was no higher than four metres” it would be allowed as it would not be classed as a dwelling.
But the pensioner says he has now been told to remove the building within a month or face action from the council forcing the shelter to be demolished.
Mr Cadman is pleading with the council to rethink, despite losing a planning application and two appeals made to the Planning Inspectorate.
He said it was particularly galling as 5,500 homes are planned on land nearby off Springfield Road and almost 200 homes are planned for another patch of former Green Belt, this time in Warwickshire, further along Lindridge Road.
The 70-year-old said: “I phoned up the council and said I wanted to build a shelter and I was told I could as long as there’s no windows or doors and the height was under four metres. Then a neighbour came around in 2018 and took a photo and sent it to the council.
“The council sent an officer round to inspect it and I was told to submit a planning application for retrospective permission for the building. That was turned down in 2019.
“So I appealed and used a firm to submit the appeal, but that, too, was rejected.
“Two weeks ago an enforcement officer came out of the blue, as I haven’t heard anything for two years after Covid started, and they said you have got a month to take it down. All this has been blown out of proportion. I still think I don’t need planning permission as that’s what I had been told.”
The city council, in its refusal notice dated June 18, 2019, said the outbuilding breached two elements of its Birmingham Development Plan 2017 and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Firstly, “the proposal would involve inappropriate development in the green belt and very special circumstances have not been demonstrated to outweigh the harm to the green belt or any other harm caused by the development.”
Secondly, the site at Lindridge Pool and Langley Mill is also a Site of Importance Nature Conservation, with the council further stating “inadequate information has been provided to gauge the effects of the building on priority habitats and protected/notable species”.
Mr Cadman argued the building was essential for fishermen, claiming his Lindridge Pool site had far more pegs than the council had accounted for.
He said it was used by anglers for sheltering from inclement weather, cleaning their gear and has also been used for two fundraising events.
But the council claim it was also used by Mr Cadman’s family. Planning Inspector, Jillian Rann, said: “The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. Therefore, substantial weight should be given to any harm to the green belt when considering any proposal for development within it. In this case, I have found harm to the green belt by reason of the proposed development’s inappropriateness.”
A spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council said: “This structure is situated in the Green Belt and a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation.
“No written request from Mr Cadman regarding his intentions to construct a detached structure was received. However, if full details and context of the proposed structure had been supplied then appropriate advice would have been given.
“Mr Cadman’s appeal against the refusal of planning permission was dismissed by the independent planning inspectorate and as the structure has yet to be removed, enforcement action has begun.”
Graham added: “I’m gutted. I have got to take it down and I haven’t got the money. I am 70 years of age. My main grievance is they gave me permission in the first place.
“It’s not a dwelling. It’s all open. This was a trade farm originally. We have a fishery and we are trying to increase it to 100 fishermen.
“I think the council are hypocrites, 100 per cent.”
It’s not a dwelling. It’s all open. We have a fishery and we are trying to increase it to 100 fishermen. The council are hypocrites. Graham Cadman