Home with toilet in kitchen faces demolition.
It is only a few days since we reported on the imminent demolition of a Chinese apartment block that was just two metres deep. And yet that seems positively palatial in comparison to the sight that was awaiting UK building inspectors in Cambridge recently.
Councillors unhesitatingly ordered the demolition of what is thought to be Cambridge’s first unauthorised ‘bed in a shed’, in Burnside, Romsey, which was allegedly built without planning permission.
Cllr Lewis Herbert, who represents Coleridge, said: “Near Heathrow there have been hundreds of these developments hidden away in the middle of sites but it’s necessary that we have rules saying everybody should have planning permission.
“There have to be controls to make sure these places are safe and reasonable, especially in a city where there’s such a shortage of accommodation that people will live wherever they can find.”
The saga began in 2010, when the first of two rejected applications to build a bungalow on the site of a garage was submitted.
In August 2012, the council was told a new residence was being built at the rear of the house, but owner Anthony Waite claimed it would be a music room or summerhouse, which would not require planning permission.
However, when officers visited the site in June this year, they discovered the plot at the rear had been fenced off and that the new single-storey building boasted two bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and a bathroom.
The council told Mr Waite it planned to start enforcement action, and following this the kitchen was removed and placed into another outbuilding which also contained a loo – as pictured by council officers.
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