A couple who own a self-catering holiday let in Keswick have lost a planning battle.
Richard and Mary Sewell, who own Fell View, off Ashtree Avenue, lodged two appeals with the national Planning Inspectorate.
It follows the three-bed property being served with an enforcement notice from the Lake District National Park Authority about a timber shed and fence at the back.
Planners acted as they had concerns that the shed and fence, on an area used for parking, caused a restricted view of oncoming vehicles or pedestrians travelling south down narrow Limepots Road.
The enforcement notice gave the couple two months to make changes. Officers wanted the fence and supporting posts either removed completely or reduced in height. Planners also wanted the timber shed removed or relocated in the yard so that it sat further back from the road outside.
But the Sewells appealed to the Planning Inspectorate on the grounds that the terms of the enforcement notice were excessive.
Documents show they had been out of the country when the notice was served in August last year and did not find out about it until early September 2022
They also said that prior to the development, a tall hedge and garage had stood on the property’s boundary.
It was taller than both the fence and the current shed they said, and they felt a precedent had been set.
But planning inspector Anthony Wharton upheld the national park’s original enforcement notice and dismissed the couple’s appeal.
A report going before Wednesday’s meeting of the national park’s development control committee showed that the inspector agreed with the LDNPA.
He too felt that the shed and fence could obstruct the visibility of neighbours and pedestrians, and that they were “detrimental” to highway safety.
Mr Wharton found: “The neighbouring property, The Shieling, also has a very restricted view of oncoming vehicles and pedestrians travelling north.
“A car leaving this property would now need to pull into the middle of the carriageway before oncoming vehicles and pedestrians could be seen. I share the LDNPA view that to simply move the outbuilding one metre back from the boundary would not be sufficient to overcome the harm caused by the current position.”
The couple now have two months to make the changes as set out by the LDNPA in the original enforcement notice.
