Rallying call to save Royal British Legion clubs
- Today's leader
Abigail, aged three, in planning battle over Wendy House
Tuesday 12th April 2011, 2:17PM BST.
Abigail Gent and her Wendy House
Little Abigail Gent has clashed with planning bosses over where to put her dream Wendy house.
The siting of the three-year-old’s play house at her parents’ home near Whitchurch sparked a six-week wrangle with officials.
Now the youngster is free to play to her heart’s content after planning bosses at Wrexham County Borough Council gave her the all clear to carry on using it.
At one stage the Wendy house, which the pre-schooler uses most days, was even facing the prospect of being pulled down unless it was moved a matter of yards to a site which officials said was more suitable.
Now Abigail’s parents have got the necessary planning permission for the playhouse – but only after filling in various forms, completing surveys and taking photographs to appease officials.
Abigail’s father, Richard Gent, said he thought the “world had gone mad” when he learned the offending Wendy house was on planning officials’ radars.
For the full story, see today’s Shropshire Star
Sponsored Links
Most Commented
- Shropshire Council will face £8m redundancy bill
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff doesn't raise a smile
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Should the parents have not checked this before building it?
No use kicking up a fuss afterwards if they haven’t. And if they were made to take it down then poor little Abigail would only have her parents to blame.
Report abuse
Pete, are you serious? I would never have thought to check if I needed planning permission for a Wendy house because it’s ridiculous. It’s a joke that the parents had to go though all this fuss. A complete waste of time and money.
Report abuse
Why is it a waste of time and money? All they needed to do was check with the local authority. I had to do it, its not rocket science.
Its not just about the poor little girl its about the neighbours and the surrounding area too. Thats why you need to check.
Report abuse
Aaaaaah, Pete, did you want a wendy house too?
Report abuse
Well said Pete. It’s not a Wendy House is it. It’s a prettily painted shed and if it is going to be plonked in an unsuitable location, planning need to be involved for the sake of the whole community. Well done Planners.
Report abuse
Oh please its a wendy house – get a grip. I agree with Mr Gent – the world has gone mad!! I hope Abigail enjoys her house :)
Report abuse
Well most sheds are supposed to have planning but not many bother do they? I would have built it on wheels . Saying all that busy body around was their.
Report abuse
“Saying all that busy body around was their.”
Understand can’t I hell you’re the on about what
Report abuse
Can we all join in with the type like Yoda competition, is invitation only or it..
Report abuse
Welcome are you very!!!
Report abuse
Hmmm. Another Skywalker, there is.
Report abuse
OMG has the world been tipped upside down and violently shaken so it doesnt think straight….PATHETIC i say and there is not another word for it…well there are a few but only to be kept to myself
Report abuse
shame the planning officials were not as pro active when the theatre severn was built as it looks like something my children used to build at playschool out of cereal boxes and the quantam leap sculpture which is a concrete monstrosity compared to these a wendy house is positivly delightful
Report abuse
And what exactly have planning officials in Wrexham got to do with Theatre Severn? Which was in Shrewsbury last time I Checked.
Report abuse
You must surely be the same Pete from comment one! Which council department do you work in?! Your comments are full to the brim of the jobsworth tones used by many in ‘higher places’ who seem to do nothing other spread misery! I would be embarrassed if I was the council official having to ask if they had planning permission for a wendy house. I would want the ground to swallow me up…. well as long as I had made the relevant enquiries to ensure it was all ok with the planning department first!
Report abuse
I don’t work for the council.
But planning laws are there for a reason. You just can’t go building these things without relevant premission or at least checking. How do we know that this wendy house wasn’t looking straight into the neighbours property and violating their privacy, which is what I imagine has happened because somebody would have made a complaint if planning are involved. What would happen if the neighbours wanted some intimate time together and couldn’t because they have a 3 year old looking through their back window?
Report abuse
Pete, regardless of a 3 year old neighbour or not I would hope that they would have sense to shut the curtains before ‘getting down to it’
What a pathetic point to put across!
Oh and if you read further into this the officials ‘spotted’ it when on another visit! Once again a British council goes out of there way to show us what a fantastic job they do enforcing law yet just end up embarrassing themselves! If they actually focused on the things that matter then people would hold more faith in them! The reason this is reported as news is because 99.9% of people reading it will view it as ridiculous behaviour by the council – its not being reported so they get a big thumbs up for a job well done now is it!?
Report abuse
As stated in post 8 by jake. This land was set aside for agricultural puposes and not wendy houses for 3 year olds. This would have been laid down in a local development framework to protect the countryside and the conservation of the are involved. The Gents would have known this, being the owners of the land, but went ahead and built it anyway. Planning officers have to enforce this because it is their job, its what they do whether you like it or not. You cannot go around building structures where you like with no consideration for others and bleat to the press about your 3 year old being a bit sad, when all they had to do was make a quick phone call to the local authority and ask a simple question.
Report abuse
Oh Pete seriously get a life!! The land couldn’t be in active farming/agricultural use any longer if they were prepared to build a Wendy house for there 3 year old daughter on it. One could safely assume they wouldn’t want her playing near an active tractor, plough or herd of cattle etc. Anyway this story is 3 days old now and I am out of patience with you and your rules is rules so sod common sense attitude.
One thing is for certain you wont be kept bored chap as councils cock up like this often enough to keep you in rule book spouting mode for the rest of your life (which wont be too long if you don’t lighten up a little!)
Report abuse
some of my comment didnt show up ..what i was saying was that all planning officials seem to have double standards….and yes i do know where the theatre severn is because i live near and have to look at it
Report abuse
Pete, it’s a Wendy house, a kids play thing and expecting parents to get permission to put one up is stupid. Who seriously thinks of these things when they buy a child’s plaything? You sound like an over the top busy body, while the rest of us can see planning permission for Wendy houses/sheds is a waste of time and money.
Report abuse
It doesn’t matter what the structure is, if planning is needed then its needed, end of argument.
Planning permission is not usually needed for sheds and wendy houses but why not just phone and check? Takes a few minutes and costs no money. So I don’t get why you think that is a waste of time and money?
And I am not a busy body, I just haven’t been duped by a photo of a gurning 3 year old who’s parents have ignored the law!!!
Report abuse
You had to check?
Report abuse
gill gittins got a point would saved shrewsbury alott money lol
as far a wendy house goes was a bit harsh but rules are rules you have to obey em your still building on land that hasent had approval
Report abuse
Although I agree that Theatre Severn with its fake stone block cladding is awful, it was after all, designed by planners but please leave Quantum Leap alone, it is fab.
The Wendy House planning battle is as pathetic as the fact that people have to apply to trim shrubs these days when disabled and homeless people are left without services and vital support.
Report abuse
This isn’t the full story though, is it? The later story reveals that the structure was originally built in a paddock (owned by the Gents), which is classed as agricultural land, not in their garden.
Report abuse
“****dy Planning Nazis won’t let me build what I want, where I want”
“****dy incompetent, lazy, corrupt Planning Officers let my neighbours build whatever they want, wherever they want”
It seems to depend which side of the fence you’re on….
Report abuse
I hope you got permission for that fence.
Report abuse
Couldn’t be bothered with all the paperwork – we just dug a moat instead. We’re just waiting for global warming to do its thing so we can stock it with piranhas, sorry, sticklebacks.
All we’ve got to sort out now is how to stop the 20 Polish plumbers living in the “wendy house” falling in on their way back from the pub…..
Report abuse
Couldn’t be bothered with all the paperwork so I dug a moat instead. I reckon another couple of years of global warming and I should be able to stock it with piranhas.
I’ve just got to find a way of stopping the 20 Polish plumbers who live in the wendy house falling in on their way back from the pub…..
Report abuse
There’s a hell of an echo in here…
Report abuse
Rob, I do hope you have planning permission for that fence ;)
Report abuse
Shut up Laina… yes i know i should have read further before adding my comment :( and im not even blonde!
Report abuse
Judging by recent stories in the Star, if she turns it into a pub she’ll not have any bother.
Report abuse
[. How do we know that this wendy house wasn’t looking straight into the neighbours property and violating their privacy, which is what I imagine has happened because somebody would have made a complaint if planning are involved. What would happen if the neighbours wanted some intimate time together and couldn’t because they have a 3 year old looking through their back window?]
Your comment is just weird.
If the Wendy House was erected on a pole then someone of the height of a three year old could may be see through a window but I think it might be a bit dicey actually getting up to the playhouse and would then be a H&S issue!
Report abuse
But the point was about invasion of someones privacy, which you obviously missed.
Report abuse
so to summarise. They needed planning permission, they applied for planning permission, they were granted planning permission.
good story
Report abuse
Love the rules or hate the rules, it’s neither here nor there. Knowing that the rules exist & at what point they are crossed may be unknown to the majority, however in law, ignorance is not an excuse.
Perhaps the best that’ll come out of this story, & subsequent blogs, is a bit of awareness.
Should I want to erect a shed at anytime in the future I’ll give the local authorities a bell first.
Report abuse
we all know what its really about. Keeping these over paid council officials in jobs!!!They have to be seen to be doing something.If its a paddock would the neighbours have complained about the horses looking in on them.God what is this world coming to when you can not build a toy for your kids in your own garden. Oooops sorry paddock
Report abuse
I think busy body, I mean Pete, must be a planning officer.
Report abuse
Question!!! How can you build a 9ft x 9ft conservatory like I have on the back of my house and not need planning permission, yet you need it for a Wendy house.
Report abuse