Councillors turned down plans to dig a sunken garden and described the proposal as “perverse” and “laughable”.
The retrospective planning application for digging out the garden at 44 The Cliff, in Roedean, was received after tons of material had already been excavated.
And an official investiation is under way after properties – described as two mobile homes – were put up without planning permission from Brighton and Hove City Council.
But when the council’s Planning Committee met at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday 4 September), members were told that they could not discuss the planning enforcement team’s current investigation.
Councillors were frustrated that they could not talk about potential enforcement action as they considered the application for a sunken garden.
They were addressed by Roedean Residents’ Association chair Craig Jones. He spoke on behalf of neighbours who sent eight letters of objection.
Mr Jones said that letters had also been sent to the planning enforcement team by neighbours concerned about the unauthorised extra buildings in the garden and a septic tank.
He told the Planning Committee that the development was “deliberate and unlawful”.
Mr Jones said: “It is no surprise that the owners have employed a planning consultant as neighbours and the residents’ association have begun to lift the lid on a deliberate and unlawful development.
“We’ve been shocked by this owner’s pitiful disregard for the neighbours’ interests, the interests of the council and of the law – indeed a disregard for anything other than their own profit.”
“The owner is clearly establishing some form of dwelling at the foot of their garden.”
He added that no one on the committee was so naive as to be unable to see it.
He highlighted sewer connections and how compacted earth in-fill had damaged a neighbouring boundary wall.
Councillor Bridget Fishleigh asked Mr Jones about a concrete barrier next to the site.
Mr Jones said that the applicant was given right of access across the Roedean Pitch and Putt but the right of access had been removed after trees were hacked away and earth removed.
The barrier was put in place to prevent further access.
