Pendle Leader sets precedent for unauthorised home extensions

Pendle Borough Council leader, Mohammed Iqbal, has been criticised for ignoring planning rules and setting a "dangerous" precedent regarding home extensions.

At the Pendle Borough Council Policy & Resources meeting on Thursday (30th January), a planning decision came before the Committee regarding a property in Nelson which the homeowner had built an extension without planning permission and outside of local planning regulations.

The choice for Councillors was whether to allow the unauthorised extension to remain or to refuse planning and make the homeowner apply for planning properly and within the stipulated building requirements.

PBC Planning Officer, Neil Watson, made it abundantly clear that planning permission should be refused, citing a potential Ombudsman case arising where the Council would have no defence regarding an acceptable relationship with a neighbour, following complaints regarding the extension. He went on to say the application "isn't even close" to conforming to the Council's policies regarding building works, and how could the Council defend a decision to approve an application which is "so blatantly and significantly contradictory to our policies."

Ward Councillor Zafar Ali was allowed to speak to defend the homeowner, claiming ignorance and complexity in the planning laws and that the owner thought he was allowed to build the extension within the current law. But Planning Officer, Neil Watson, refuted this claim, stating the owner had many times used the planning service and suggested he was fully aware of the planning laws.

Councillor David Clegg said "Going off what Mr Watson said, if do allow this we leave ourselves wide open for it to start happening all over the borough. I just think we ought to be protecting the rest of the borough from mistakes like this happening. And making this OK and giving it permission and saying 'yeah, you've done it now, we'll turn a blind eye to it, you can have your permission,' I think is a dangerous situation to get into and it's going to set a precedent and you're going to have it happening all over the borough."

Councillor Sakib proposed to approve the application, and five voted in favour (Cllr Mahmood, Cllr, Sakib, Cllr Aslam, Cllr M. Iqbal, Cllr Y. Iqbal) and five against. Chairman and Pendle Council Leader, Mohammed Iqbal decided to use his reserved power to make a casting vote to approve the retrospective planning application and set a new "dangerous" precedent for the borough.

Loud murmurs and groans could be heard from the crowd and Planning Officer shook his head in disbelief.

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