Drip, drip, drip. It started at
238 Woolwich Road six years ago. Bexley Council’s Tory supporting friend of the Planning
Committee Chairman’s wife built a concrete edifice in the rear garden of a house he had bought earlier the same year. Well not quite in; according to Bexley it slightly
encroached on to Lesnes Abbey Woods. No planning permission obviously but in
Bexley that may not matter a great deal if you know your way around the system. After ping-ponging
through the Planning Committee a few times permission was granted
retrospectively for what neighbours had described as a nuclear bunker.
Its construction required the felling of several trees, not only in the garden of 238 but also
next door at number 240. The residents there were deceived into
thinking they would get some free landscaping from their new friend. It became
such an eyesore that they decided that the only way to escape it was to sell up
and move away. Unfortunately no one wanted to buy into such destruction and the
only option was to sell to the owner of 238.
The whole story is Indexed here.
Extensions have been allowed and now more of the garden is to
be developed. A 45 by 30 foot garden shed. One in each garden apparently
although the drawings are both labelled 238.
No ordinary shed, this is to be a gymnasium, art room, music room, cinema etc. Anything that takes the owner’s fancy.
