Anger for Broughty Ferry residents left staring at permanent reminder of council's planning failure
A Broughty Ferry woman has spoken of her anger after a Dundee City Council blunder led to the construction of an ''industrial''-sized garage at the end of her garden.
The view of the garage from Eileen Reoch's garden.
- By Stefan Morkis
- Published in the Courier : 29.12.11
- Published online : 29.12.11 @ 01.51pm
Eileen Reoch owns one of several properties surrounding 30C Albany Road, where a large, two-storey garage was built last year.
But Dundee City Council failed to issue a neighbourhood notification letter (NNL) to nearby residents, denying them a chance to object to the proposals.
Mrs Reoch said: ''Basically, I woke up one morning last April to find a warehouse under construction at the bottom of my garden. We then found out that planning permission had been granted by the council 10 months before but none of my neighbours had received notification because the council had failed its statutory procedures.''
Although the council has admitted it failed to notify neighbouring properties — and has been investigated by the public services ombudsman as a result — the garage will stay.
The council had prepared NNLs but failed to post them. New systems have been put in place to ensure there can be no repeat of the situation. Two planning officers will have to confirm that notifications have been issued before an application can proceed.
Mrs Reoch said: ''If there had been six or more objections then they would have had to be heard at a full council meeting but as that didn't happen it just went through.
''A lot of us are pretty aggrieved as we never had a chance to say anything about it. Even if we had been able to object and the council approved it, at least we would have had our say.''
To rub salt in their wounds, the garage was not built to the specifications laid out in the original planning application. Further alterations, such as a hoist to lift motorcycles on to the top floor, were rejected by councillors at the council's planning committee when they considered a second application. This time neighbours were allowed to have their say.
''I think a lot of the councillors were surprised that such an industrial building had been allowed in a residential and conservation area,'' Mrs Reoch said.
The ombudsman's report stated: ''The council acknowledged and apologised for the failure to send out the specific neighbourhood notification letters.''
It added: ''Our inquiries to the council confirmed that they had fully acknowledged the error in relation to the neighbourhood notification letters and had taken remedial action to put a new system in place that would prevent any application progressing until two different officers had confirmed that neighbourhood notification letters had gone out.''
06.10pm - 29.12.2011 Dan - Dundee, UK Report This
Council incompetence. This error should be addressed through a new application and residents informed accordingly THIS TIME. This will, undoubtedly, mean this appalling structure being demolished. If so, so be it. The procedure wasn't carried through correctly.
08.52am - 30.12.2011 Roger - Manchester, England Report This
That is a horrific structure in such a location and the local residents now have to look at Dundee City Council's incompetence every day!!! An apology is not sufficient and DCC should, at a very minimum, take responsibility to screen and minimise the impact of the eyesore.
01.08pm - 30.12.2011 Alexander Forsyth - Pforzheim, Germany Report This
If the planning permision Procedures have not been adhered to, then the building has been erected illegally. I would take legal action against the Dundee Council.
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