Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Council ordering dad to raze children’s treehouse
ASOMERSET family is fighting to save a treehouse they have built on their land after the local council ordered them to tear it down.
Tim Lyddon lives in Minehead with his wife Jayne and their two daughters Jody and Maisie.
Mr Lyddon began building the treehouse near his home late last year to provide his daughters with a place to play and learn about nature.
But now he is fighting a battle to keep the structure after Somerset West and Taunton Council ruled it was in breach of planning policy and should be taken down.
The treehouse – christened The Birds Nest – lies up a steep track off Combeland Road between a small orchard and Penny Hill Wood.
The two-storey structure, built around an oak tree, is accessed by a “gangway bridge” and has enough space for two or three children to sleep in.
The ground floor includes a large observation hatch where people can see across the whole of Minehead, including the Butlins holiday camp and the nearby rugby club.
Mr Lyddon, of Brook Street, said: “I wanted my girls to be able to appreciate their natural surroundings.
“The observational hatch allows them to see local wildlife. We even have some squirrels nesting in the treehouse at the moment.”
Mr Lyddon, who works as a gardener and sculptor, constructed the treehouse and the bridge during the winter, and claims it is “not visible” from the road or any of the houses below.
He built it largely out of recycled wood, spending around £100 on the screws, plywood and other materials needed to complete it.
By contrast, the legal battle with the council (which began with an enforcement notice being issued in January) has so far set him back around eight times that amount.
He said: “It’s only 30cm off the ground.
“I was not aware we needed planning permission for this.”
The council argued the treehouse amounted to building in open countryside – something which has traditionally been discouraged to protect the landscape and discourage urban sprawl.
A spokesman said: “The site is outside of settlement areas defined within the West Somerset Local Plan, and it therefore falls within open countryside. The development constructed does not meet the specified criteria of the Local Plan, and would introduce an inappropriate urbanising feature within the rural landscape.”
Mr Lyddon has appealed against the council’s enforcement notice, arguing it is not intended to be a permanent structure and that its impact on the local landscape was minimal.
He said: “This is here to provide a place for our girls for the next three or four years. We want them to have a good grounding in nature. We have tried to limit the local impact on trees and wildlife as much as possible. We’d like to do something along the lines of a forest garden in the future, planting fruit and nut trees.”
The Planning Inspectorate has confirmed the appeal will be conducted by written representation rather than a public inquiry.
Anyone wishing to make a statement about the treehouse should visit www.planninginspectorate.gov. uk and search for number 3247632.
This is here to provide a place for our girls for the next three or four years. We want them to have a good grounding in nature
TIM LYDDON