I spent 5 YEARS building my daughter her dream tree house before council said it broke a ridiculous rule
A DAD who spent 5 YEARS building his daughter her dream tree house was told by the council that it broke a ridiculous rule.
Damien George, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, planned the project with eight-year-old Sequoia by collecting bits of wood and timber.
The professional joiner spent 18 months constructing it as a birthday present for Sequoia, who is home educated.
But the tree house was put forward to a planning committee due to highway safety concerns.
Councillors voted unanimously to grant permission for the tree house to stay.
“It’s been a massive journey for me and my wife Nicola,” Damien told GrimsbyLive.
“I was elated when I heard the decision and my daughter was over the moon when we told her everything.
“The tree house puts a smile on everyone’s face when they walk past and it’s a massive positive for us that we can finally carry on building it.”
The tree house consists of a main platform, a climbing wall, a bridge, stairs and a zip wire.
Local councillors wrote in support of his application.
In a statement Cllr Daniel Westcott said: “Every now and again, we get an eccentric resident who does something quirky and it’s different.
“We heard the applicant say it puts a smile on people’s faces and that’s the first thing I did when I saw it, I smiled.”
He hailed it as an example of “Great British eccentricity”.
Damien said: “I need to finish off the roofing and get it painted then it will be ready to go.
“I have to thank Councillors Paul Sylvester and Daniel Westcott though, they have helped me and supported me every step of the way and I’m thankful to the committee for their ruling.”
What are your rights?
Planning permission guidance according to gov.uk
You will need to request planning permission if you wish to build something new, make a major change to your building or change the use of your building – for example starting a business.
To find out if you need planning permission you should contact your Local Planning Authority through your council.
If planning permission is refused you can appeal.
You are able to appeal if you were refused planning permission for reasons that you think go against the LPA’s development plan or planning policy (you can usually find these on their website).
You can also appeal if you were granted planning permission with conditions you object to – you’ll need to explain why you think they’re unnecessary, unenforceable, vague, unreasonable or irrelevant.
Another ground for appeal is if the LPA has not given you a decision on your application and 8 weeks have passed since the date they told you they’d received it (or a different deadline you agreed with them has passed).