‘They’re a monstrosity…it’s like living in a box,’ say furious residents after newbuilds spring up next to their gardens
FURIOUS residents feel like they are “living in a box” after new houses were built on the land behind their gardens.
Bungalow owners in Hythe Road, Kent, want the three-bed properties demolished.
However, no further action can be taken if the homes were built under the approved plans, according to council bosses.
Plans for two new builds were originally dismissed by district councillors in 2021 – but were accepted after an appeal the following year.
The planning inspector, Martin Andrews claimed people’s privacy wouldn’t be majorly impacted.
Yet, Maureen Field, 80, and her husband John, 87, said that “everywhere they go” in their garden they “are overlooked”.
The pair have lived in their Hythe Road bungalow for more than 60 years but now feel the council has let them down.
The married couple are determined not to leave their forever home and would rather see the new development knocked down before it is completed and families move in.
They won’t be flooded because they’re two metres up in the air
Peter Johnson
“It’s a monstrosity,” she added.
“We just want to make sure that this builder realises the strong feelings of all these people around here and what it’s done to our mental and physical health because it’s like living in a box, having these facing you.”
The planning inspector also ruled that there wasn’t a flood risk and that procedures had followed government advice.
However, Peter Johnson, 73, who lives just 26 metres away from the site, remains concerned.
Peter was under a lot of stress after his “property and garden were flooded“.
The area is a flood risk he claimed but says the owners of the new builds “won’t be flooded because they’re two metres up in the air”.
The angry residents are supported by Tony Cooper, Romney Marsh’s ward councillor.
The Labour MP stated that the district council should step in and implement a “planning enforcement because it is stark and so obviously overbearing, denying its neighbours privacy”.
A spokesperson for Folkstone & Hyde District Council told The Sun: This application was refused by the local planning authority but allowed on appeal by the Secretary of State.
“No further action can be taken so long as it is built in accordance with the approved details.”
PRIVATE MATTER
What are the rules about being overlooked?
Whilst overlooking can come within the Law of Nuisance, it will only apply if the use of the land by the overlooker is “abnormal and unexpected”.
It must also be a “substantial visual interference”.
Examples include being overlooked by a museum’s viewing space or a sky garden, by lots of people.
The legal threshold for a genuine overlooking nuisance claim is high.
It is therefore unlikely a residential occupier who finds themselves being overlooked in their homes will be able to bring forward a nuisance claim.
Source: Lawcomm Solicitors