FUMING residents have slammed their neighbour’s huge shed built right on their garden fence – saying it’s as big as a house and looks right into a bedroom.
A homeowner in Charnwood, Leicestershire is building a 4m-high stand-alone gym at the back of their house.
Six locals objected to the plans when they were filed, with none supporting it.
But last summer Charnwood Borough Council overruled the objections and approved the plans.
The council later apologised to one resident for failing to tell her that the huge shed had been approved.
Neighbour Tina Watts said: “It would be a gross over-development of this site, causing loss of sunlight and daylight to my property.
“The gym that is proposed exceeds the 4m height allowed when a
proposal is so close to a boundary line.
“The gym is large enough to be used as a dwelling, with working water and waste disposal.
She added: “No one can guarantee this gym will not be used for residential use.
“My garden would be severely overlooked from the top rooms of the new development as well as my kitchen and back bedroom, resulting in a serious invasion of privacy.”
“The plans are more of a hostel setup – is this going to be used as a family home or business?”
Gerald Stew said: “What purpose is this building to be used for?
“It seems to me that such large extensions exceed the permitted allowance and the outbuilding could be used as a residence.”
Pritesh Rathod said: “There will be substantial loss of light and privacy to my mum’s house.
“There are also concerns that this revision to a 3 bedroom semi detached house, seems to be lend itself more to student accommodation and not a family home.
“I am very concerned about the build and that it will impact health, cause additional security issues, upset and heartache.”
Andy Page, whose house backs on to the outbuilding, said: “I feel the scheme is an overdevelopment of the existing dwelling.
“Additional windows at high level on the rear elevation overlook our property.
“This gym is around 50m2, the footprint being almost as large as our house.
James Upton said: “The outbuilding looks far too big for a garden shed. This could be lived in due to the size.”
Clint Reynolds said: “An extension of this size would be overlooking our private garden.
“With the garden used regularly, this has obviously raised privacy concerns for us.”
The parish council backed fuming neighbours, saying: “Councillors are concerned that the proposed extension is an overdevelopment on this site.
“They believe it will result in the loss of privacy to neighbouring properties at the rear of the development.”
But Charnwood Borough Council’s report approving the plans said: “The proposed development complies with the relevant development plan policies.
“It would not result in any harm to neighbouring amenity.
“It would not result in any detrimental visual harm to the character and appearance of the host dwelling, street scene or surrounding area.
“It would not result in harm to highway safety.”
But the council had to apologise to Tina Watts after failing to tell her that the shed had been approved.
Upholding her complaint, an officer said: “The neighbour consultation letter you received set out that we would notify you when a decision had been made, but we did not do so.
“Unfortunately, the letter template that had been used was out-of-date, as outcome notifications had ceased being issued as a matter of course in 2022.
“The standard letter template should have been updated to remove any reference to notifications at that time but it had not been.
“This oversight has since been corrected. I accept that this was unintentionally misleading as you were expecting to receive a
notification.
“I uphold this aspect of your complaint and apologise for any uncertainty or confusion caused.”
There was no answer when The Sun knocked at the address where the shed is being built.
Charnwood Borough Council has been contacted for comment.
