Judges reject bungalow plan
Apr 21 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
A NORTHUMBERLAND villager who claimed her privacy would be shattered if neighbours build a bungalow in their garden has won her fight to block their plans.
Winifred Gandy said she would have been “devastated” if her neighbours Andrew and Helen Duffield built the bungalow on land at the back of their house in Physic Lane, Thropton, Northumberland.
The site at the house, named Riversview, was designated as a “kitchen garden” by a conveyance in 1936.
Mrs Gandy was horrified when the couple obtained planning permission to build a bungalow on the north east corner of the land, close to her own house, Overwreigh.
She said she only bought her home because there was a restrictive covenant on the adjoining land precluding development, and that the bungalow, if constructed on the other side of her garden hedge, would ruin the privacy of her garden and make her feel “uncomfortable”.
Despite obtaining planning permission from Alnwick Council, Mr and Mrs Duffield also needed to have the covenant altered to be able to go ahead with their building plans.
But the move was blocked when Mrs Gandy lobbied the Lands Tribunal, who, as a result, refused the Duffields’ application to amend the covenant on August 23 last year.
The couple, determined to press ahead with their plans, took their case to the Appeal Court in London, asking top judges to rule that the Lands Tribunal had got it wrong. But Lord Justice Mummery, sitting with Lord Justice Toulson and Mr Justice Patten, last week refused the Duffields’ appeal.
Giving the judgment Lord Justice Mummery said the Tribunal had been right to come down on Mrs Gandy’s side. He said: “The restriction on the erection of a residence on the property secured for Mrs Gandy benefits of substantial value.”
Concerns about so-called “garden grabbing’’ were raised last year by Hexham MP Peter Atkinson, after figures showed Alnwick and Castle Morpeth, along with Teesdale in County Durham, were among the 15 worst-hit areas in the country for the trend.
The figures showed 81% of new homes in Alnwick were built on previously residential land, while the figure was 65% in Castle Morpeth and 67% in Teesdale in 2005 – which was largely on gardens, according to the Conservative MP.
Neither Mrs Gandy nor the Duffields were available for comment yesterday.
