A homeowner has lost a dispute with her local council over garden decking, after officials used photographs from estate agent websites as evidence. Belinda Klugah Cavill, who resides at Woolpitch Wood in Bayfield, Chepstow, had argued that the raised platform in her garden was already in place when she bought the property in 2023.
She maintained that it had been installed by the previous owner around 2004 or 2005. If this were true, the decking would have been exempt from enforcement action due to its age, as it would have been in place well beyond the decade-long threshold.
Despite being higher than 30cm above the ground – which would have originally required planning permission – it could have remained as it was if it had indeed been there for over a decade. However, officials at Monmouthshire County Council discovered photos on estate agents’ websites, including Rightmove, showing differences in the decking between when the property was advertised in June 2023 and when it was listed in February 2013.
The council began investigating the decking after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public in 2023, alleging that it had been installed two years earlier in May 2021 without the necessary planning permission. This led to an enforcement notice being issued in March this year, requiring Ms Cavill to remove parts of the decking and related material within six months.
Ms Cavill contested the enforcement notice, only for the council to confess that it had lost the original tip-off that sparked the investigation, although they did provide photographs found on property websites, reports Wales Online.
The case was escalated to the Welsh Government body, Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW). However, independent planning inspector Richard Jenkins, who reviewed the appeal on behalf of PEDW, agreed with the council’s position based on evidence from the property websites.
In his official report, he stated: “The LPA (local planning authority) has provided a screenshot from an online platform that specialises in property sales, rents and values that appears to confirm that the decking was substantially complete in June, 2023. This is then contrasted with a screenshot from a similar online platform that appears to illustrate a materially different decked area in 2013.”
Aerial photos were also presented, which “also appears to demonstrate a material difference in the extent of the decked area between the years 2020 and 2023”.
Mr Jenkins concluded: “I am satisfied that the evidence is sufficiently clear to confirm the council’s position that the decking has materially changed since the original decked area was constructed. The decking subject of the appeal has not, therefore, been in situ for a period that exceeds 20 years as alleged by the appellant.”
He conceded that the evidence “falls short of categorically confirming” the work was carried out in May 2021, but stated it doesn’t contradict the council’s case and there was nothing to suggest it was “substantially complete prior to the date of immunity”.
The report highlighted that the onus of proof rested with those contesting a decision to issue an enforcement notice and there was no significant evidence “to discredit the council’s critical argument” that while there might have been a decked area before May 2021, the new decking constituted a “fresh breach of planning control”.
Mr Jenkins dismissed the appeal but did alter the enforcement notice and stated, subject to his amendments, the notice should be upheld.
Monmouthshire Council had contended it was unable to provide the original complaint as “it no longer has the necessary consent to share this evidence as part of the appeal proceedings” but wished to proceed with the enforcement action due to the alleged “public harm”.