Owner of ‘alien’ fence in Torteval garden will have to take it down
Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
Dennise Colling in front of the fence which an independent planning tribunal ruled was ‘alien’ to its surroundings and which she will have to take down. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 1095424)
A TORTEVAL fence was branded ‘discordant’ and ‘alien’ by a tribunal as it dismissed the owner’s appeal against planners’ refusal of permission.
Dennise Colling applied retrospectively to put up fencing alongside a boundary hedge at Vue de l’Eglise, Rue du Belle, Torteval.
However, permission was refused because the fence was deemed too prominent.
Mrs Colling appealed against the decision.
The case was heard last month and the planning tribunal, chaired by Stuart Fell, has upheld the planners’ decision.
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As I don’t know the full details this comment is more of a general nature than specifically relating to this case.
There have been a lot of these “retrospective application” cases in recent times. I may be missing something here, but surely the idea is that people get planning permission before carrying out work?
I appreciate there may be cases where urgent work is needed, but surely these should be exceptional?
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Good decision
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Absolutely PlP, all these supposedly contentious decisions turn out to be people moaning about not getting retrospective approval.
They all took a punt hoping to get away with it and it’s come back to bite them on the butt. Well they deserve to lose the money it’ll have cost them. They might have got approval had they asked first, more likely than naffing off the planning people then asking them for something!
Oh and PS. Nice photo, gives us no idea what context this fence is in so we can’t make our own mind up on it.
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I do wonder why so many stories like this have appeared in the Press recently.
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Yes, a good decision. ‘Apply first’ would also have been the thing to do. Keep it up, Guernsey.
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A Torteval fence is alien while Deputy Hadley is permitted to build a Waitrose lookalike on the South Coast cliffs
Funny old world
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stand firm planning dept. almost all of these recent and apparently increasingly cases seem to feature ‘me me me’ persons who seem to run off and bleat to the press.
everyone knows you need to be beware of planning rules in such a heavily populated, tiny space. ignorance of the law is no defence. the people who do ignore the rules often have been permitted some leeway but still go and just do what they want anyway. more selfishness. this is not the australian outback. is living in torteval not good enough to start with?
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Failure to submit an application is one thing but the descriptions ‘alien’ and ‘discordant’ would be better applied to the planning authorities themselves when one considers that they granted permission for the construction of a HUGELY ALIEN AND DISCORDANT dwelling house at the west end of Rue de Rougeval. This is of course just one of the many inconsistencies perpetrated by the planning authority!
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I like the idea that people build first and seek permits later. It means two companies get jobs building fences, (two sets of workers are employed ) and two suppliers make sales of building materials!! Good way to keep the economy going! Oh, let’s not forget someone gets a job demolishing the ‘wrong’ fence.
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Gary – dont forget all those paid on the Independent Planning Tribunal! What a good citizen Dennise Colling is to generously donate all this extra money and keep the Guernsey economy alive.
I haven’t seen the fence but I am interested in driving past. Looking at the fence in the picture I do sympathise a bit as the island is riddled with similar looking fences and Im sure that Ive seen many like this even in Torteval -but everyone knows how unpredictable planning is….. She really should have known better. In many cases I think that small persons are punished just for seeking retrospective planning instead of following proper process in the first place… and perhaps taking the advice of persons (ie builders) who have nothing to loose and everything to gain if their work needs to be taken down and redone. Again I do agree that she should’ve followed proper process…. but nobody’s perfect.
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I tell you what Mrs Colling pull down the fence then plant yourself a nice Leylandii hedge and see how they like them apples, unless plants are not in keeping with the Enviroment. Also there are a lot of really big alien buildings on this island maybe we should nock them down as well.
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