A leading councillor has become involved in a property dispute after a neighbour accused him of extending his house onto their land without permission.
Councillor Ejaz Ahmed – a member of Slough Borough Council’s leading cabinet committee – applied for planning permission for a house extension he had already built.
But his neighbours claimed that part of the extension ‘includes an outbuilding that doesn’t belong to Mr Ahmed’. Councillor Ahmed says the structure ‘has always been part of our property’.
Councillor Ahmed had to apply for retrospective planning permission after building a house extension that was different to plans that had already been approved in 2018 and 2019. Differences included incorporating a brick shed into a side extension to be used as an office.
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Councillors on Slough Borough Council’s planning committee were asked to decide on whether to grant planning permission at a meeting last Wednesday, October 23. Council planning officers recommended that they vote to approve the plans.
But the plans show that the brick shed possibly straddles the boundaries between the two properties. The neighbours, Kirandeep Kaur and Amandeep Turner, claimed councillor Ahmed never asked for permission to add it to his house extension.
They also say he didn’t send them a ‘certificate B’ notification that informs neighbours when plans may overlap onto their land or make use of a shared wall.
Speaking on their behalf, a public speaker told the committee: “The new retrospective planning application includes an outbuilding. That’s an outbuilding that doesn’t belong to Mr Ahmed.
“Miss Kirandeep Kaur nor indeed Miss Amandeep Turner have not received a certificate B, they haven’t received any party wall notification, they haven’t received any notification of this retrospective planning application.”
But councillor Ahmed says the shed always belonged to his house and that he has ‘not built anything that encroaches on our neighbour’s property.
He told the Observer: “The brick shed has been part of our property since the house was built.
“I purchased the home over 17 years ago, the structure has remained unchanged.
"We have always maintained and had exclusive access to it, with no prior disputes regarding its placement until the current owner moved in last year.”
He added that his neighbours had been served a certificate B by post. He said: “Although we have no plans to build over onto their boundary, we were advised to issue Certificate B as part of our application.”
Councillors on the committee discussed whether the possibility of encroachment onto a neighbours’ land could affect their decision.
Planning officers explained that they can only decide on whether the plans themselves are acceptable, but can’t take property ownership into account. They said that property disputes would have to be resolved between the two parties.
A council legal officer said: “Any private property matter is a civil matter between the parties because anyone can apply for planning permission for any piece of land.”
Councillors voted to approve the application unanimously.
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