Furious neighbours accuse care home worker of ‘Oscar performance’ as she wins bitter planning row over three-bedroom house ‘squeezed’ onto land at the bottom of two gardens
Furious neighbors have accused a nursing home worker of an ‘Oscar performance’ after winning a bitter planning row to build her dream home on a plot of land beneath two gardens.
Geraldine Parke had applied to build a three-bedroom house with parking on what neighbors have described as ‘an extremely small plot’ in Winkfield, Berkshire.
She already had planning permission to build a one-storey house on the land, but then asked Bracknell Forest Council if she could change the plans to make the property larger and add a chimney.
She told councilors her plans to alter the property were intended to ‘appease’ the neighbours.
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Furious neighbors have accused a care home worker of an ‘Oscar performance’ after she won a bitter planning row to build her dream home near their gardens (pictured, site of proposed home)
Ms Parke told councilors her plans to alter the property were aimed at ‘appeasing’ neighbors (pictured, an aerial view of the site)
Planning images show the extent of the proposed property near Bracknell in Berkshire
Mrs Parke said: ‘I’ve been there personally to see the neighbors and I’m probably the best neighbor they could ever have.’
“I have served the community as a key worker and I feel I have now done everything within the recommendations to move forward with this self-build.”
She added that she was a “self-builder” and had brought the plot with her savings.
She said: “I have jeopardized my desire for my dream home by following the officer’s advice and cutting back on the scheme and development.
“I went all the way through this application and it was quite mentally taxing when I was already exhausted from supporting us during the pandemic.
‘I believe that I meet the criteria that the government sets for key figures in the community and for supporting people in their self-development. I just have to trust the process now.”
Although councilor Patrick Smith said he found such infill projects ‘quite unpalatable’, the Bracknell Forest Council committee approved the application.
Councilor Tricia Brown, chair of the committee, said: “I think there are a lot of positives here.
‘I don’t feel like we can refuse anything. I think it has met all planning regulations, both local and national.”
Local resident Amanda Pottow said she found the planning committee’s decision ‘unbelievable’.
The 60-year-old accountant was one of several neighbors who banded together to commission a Chartered Town Planner to object to the proposals.
She said: ‘It’s literally at the bottom of someone’s garden. There is no access as this is a private course.
“I never thought this would be approved in a million years. I know they do a lot of infields, but that’s not even really an infield. Most of the infields are accessible from the main road.’
Ms Pottow said the trees on the road, which had been here since the 1850s, would have to be felled to create access.
Planning designs for the three bed house – show the original plan that was approved and the new larger one
Local resident Amanda Pottow (pictured) said she found the planning committee’s decision ‘unbelievable’
Geraldine Parke has applied to build a three-bedroom house with parking on what neighbors have described as ‘an extremely small plot’ (pictured)
“My mother lived with her for 30 years and she planted them and took care of them and everything,” Mrs. Pottow added.
Commenting on what happened at the planning committee, Ms Pottow said: ‘The applicant, she did an Oscar performance about how she was an NHS worker and used her life savings.
“We’re at a planning meeting, not the Oscars.”
Lisa Weaver, another neighbor who objected, said she was “very disappointed” by the council’s decision.
“I still don’t understand how they all said they were against it and yet they approved it,” said the 56-year-old housewife.
“Something’s not right there.”
‘We have been living here for 25 years, there used to be eleven of us and now there are seventeen. When I first moved to this street, we were a very small alley, very friendly.’
Responding to Ms Parke’s speech, Ms Weaver said: ‘There are four people here who work for the NHS, she is not unusual.’
Another neighbor, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It was disappointing that the councilors who did participate said they did not agree with the plan, but then agreed to it.
“I actually didn’t understand that at all.”
The neighbor points out that the lot was initially rejected for approval in 2020, but was later approved when the applicant offered to reduce its size.
“It’s just not right,” the neighbor said. ‘I don’t know what we can do. It is very difficult.’