Camden New Journal - News: Neighbours torn apart... by trellis

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 25 April 2008

Iris Downer fears the trellis will block sunlight

Neighbours torn apart... by trellis

On one side it’s a dispute over ‘four tiny pieces of wood’. To objectors it’s ‘a slap in face’

BEHIND the doors of the exclusive homes in an Angel street neighbours are at war – and it’s all over a new garden trellis.
To some, it may seem trivial but for 81-year-old Iris Downer, the trellis in the next-door garden in Devonia Road has cast a dark shadow on the one pleasure she has had since her husband died – her beloved garden.
On the other side of the garden wall, neighbour Tom Kaehler, UK correspondent for a German newspaper, says the dispute has resulted in the “the most ludicrous planning application in the entire UK today”.
He has applied for retrospective planning permission for the trellis, after neighbours complained the height was blocking sunlight.
In his words, the dispute is probably “the end of neighbourly relations as we know it”.
The trellis, which takes Mr Kaehler’s wall above the two-metre limit allowed by planners, has been branded a “slap in the face” by one neighbour.
On Monday, councillors on Islington’s south area committee will rule on Ms Downer’s complaint, which is backed by neighbours on both sides of her home who also object.
Ms Downer, who has lived in Devonia Road for 27 years, said: “We’ve got beautiful old Victorian walls. I’ve got such a lovely view. I’ve lost my husband. The only pleasure I’ve got is my garden.
“The sun used to come in here. He hasn’t put one up on the other side of his garden because he doesn’t want to block out his own sun.”
Her neighbour, Beth Stockley, said: “For Iris, the garden is the one thing that really sustains her and this is like a slap in the face.”
But Mr Kaehler points out that other gardens in the area have trellises up to five metres high.
He said: “It’s plainly bonkers. The amount of money being wasted to determine this matter is ridiculous. My designers are not fly-by-night. They are doing the garden of the Prime Minister. What’s contested are the top four planks, four tiny pieces of wood.”
He added: “The objection that light would be taken from next door is absolute balderdash because there’s a large lime tree which covers the entire garden.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: