A builder has been ordered to knock down homes that were built without permission in Reading, where a neighbour was forced to kill more than 100 rats.
Problems at the site began on Good Friday 2020, when work started on building two wooden homes on the garden of a homeowner at Hawk Cottages off Silver Street in Katesgrove. These structures never had consent from Reading Borough Council to be built.
Issues on the site were compounded when builders allegedly left rubbish on the site during construction, attracting a rat infestation.
Patricia Tynan, a pensioner who lives in the Hawk Cottages reported having to kill more than 100 rats using traps and drowning, as the pests had encroached on her property. She even received a comical ‘verminator’ sign from a family member showing a rat getting caught in a trap due to the amount of rats she had euthanised.
The infestation and construction work were reported to the council in the summer of 2022.
A spokesperson at the time said that the council’s planning enforcement team had begun an investigation into the buildings.
The site owner was served with an enforcement notice ordering the structures to be taken down in November last year.
The owner then appealed against the enforcement notice to the government planning inspectorate in February this year.
However, planning inspector Stephen Hawkins dismissed the appeal on September 23, arguing ‘uncomfortably cramped’ onto the garden and contained ‘alien features’.
The appeal decision was discussed at the council’s planning applications committee meeting on Wednesday, October 2.
Micky Leng, the lead councillor for planning said: “Thanks to the enforcement team, they are a small but very diligent team.
“This is about having safe structures and their impact on the wider community. There is a value in some of these buildings, but there’s a correct process to follow.
“So I encourage all people that are looking to do these things, because they can be of value, to make sure they follow the proper process, because they could end up with a £20,000 and having to take your building down.”
The refusal of the appeal means the site owner has been ordered to dismantle the structures by March 2025.
If this work is not undertaken, further action will be begun by the council.
In additional comments outside the meeting, cllr Leng (Labour, Whitley) said: “These two structures constructed in a back garden, were deemed to be substandard on review by the Planning Inspector and they were without planning permission.
“The planning enforcement team have a long list of live cases which are actively being investigated and landowners should be in no doubt that enforcement action will follow where warranted and where planning guidelines are so blatantly disregarded, as was the case in this instance.”
