Pensioner in plan row reprieved

8:58pm Saturday 17th May 2008

Comments (3)   Have your say »

A pensioner who feared she would have to sell her home over alterations made to the listed building has been given a reprieve.

Eileen Waddington restored the cottage in Clayton, Bradford, ten years ago and thought she was sticking closely to the feel and materials of the historic building in Baldwin Lane.

A decade later the 74-year-old was told she may have to rip out mock sash windows and a canopy and replace the original chimney pot by Bradford Council planners.

A complaint had been made about the work and the Council were required to investigate. Mrs Waddington applied for listed building consent and when this was refused she feared she would have to spend thousands of pounds making the changes, something she could ill afford.

But Mrs Waddington has now been given a reprieve, although she still has concerns about when it comes to selling the property.

She said: "This is not the happy ending I was hoping for but I don't think I could have tried any harder.

"I have been told that the problems with the house will definitely be put on the Land Registry. If I try to sell the house the buyer's solicitor will find out on the house search. This will make the house very difficult to sell and I certainly wouldn't get the full market value which would enable me to buy another house and move on."

In a letter, the Council's area planning manager, Mohammed Yousuf, said: "In this particular case, the Council has decided that it will not be expedient to take any further action in this matter at this time.

"I am obliged to advise you, however, that the development will remain technically unauthorised and may be revealed as such on a local authority search conducted by any prospective purchasers."

Last month the Telegraph & Argus reported how Mrs Waddington was aware of the building's status when she bought it and went to extra expense to have wooden guttering, iron fallpipes and mock sash windows with wooden frames fitted. She was advised that the tall chimney - the only one on the row - needed to be taken down for safety reasons.