Owner ordered to tear down ‘garage’ by council
ARESIDENT who applied to build a garage but instead constructed a house on his driveway without planning permission has been ordered to tear it down.
The building – which appears to be a tiny house – was constructed on a drive in Vaughton Street, in HIghgate, Birmingham.
In 2019, planners approved an application for a single-storey garage but the building far exceeds that bearing no resemblance to a garage.
Following an unsuccessful appeal, the homeowner was told to demolish the new building.
Inspector Thomas Shields, appointed by the Secretary of State, wrote in his report: “It is substantially larger than the approved building. It is not a minor difference.
“In comparison with the approved garage, the appeal building has a footprint of approximately 8.7m x 4.7m and a height of 5.3m.
“Instead of a garage door, there is a pedestrian door into the front room and a tripartite bow window. Two more windows in the rear elevation
serve a separate, smaller room. Instead of single-storey, the appeal building is 1.5 storeys and has two rooms in the roof, facilitated by an almost full-width box dormer.
“All of these differences, between what was approved and what has been built, are not minor.
“Since the appeal building bears little resemblance to the scale and design of the approved single-storey
garage, it does not benefit from that planning permission.
“The requirements of the notice are: demolish the entire unauthorised detached structure and remove all demolished building materials and rubble from the premises.”
The appellant was given until July this year to demolish the building after being told he was in breach of the original planning permission.
However, the building still stands at time of publication. The homeowner refused to comment.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “We served an enforcement notice for the demolition of the unauthorised structure when the owner lost at appeal. We are in discussions with the owner re timeline. Compliance with the notice was due by July 1, 2022.”