FORMER CHIEF KEEPS GARAGE EXTENSION
South Wales Evening Post - 26 July 2006
Swansea Council's former top boss is being allowed to keep his one-bedroom garage at his luxury Gower home after a planning wrangle was yesterday finally settled. Councillors voted 12 to seven to grant it retrospective planning permission despite claims it could open the floodgates to similar applications from other homeowners in the area.
Tim Thorogood has been told that his garage which now incorporates a shower, toilet and first-floor living space, including a bedroom, can stay despite straying from the original plans submitted while he was still head of Swansea Council.
It is the third time Mr Thorogood has asked for planning permission for the garage after unauthorised changes on two occasions.The decision, taken at a Swansea Council planning meeting, was immediately slammed by those who voted against it. It came after councillors were advised by officials to pass the application or risk a costly appeal to the Assembly.
However, a number of councillors called for Mr Thorogood to be forced to change the garage.Councilor Margaret Smith said the result signalled open season for building on Gower while Labour leader David Phillips said: "I am amazed, but not surprised by the decision to allow it."The councillors are scared of it going to appeal. But as an authority we gave permission for one thing and that is what we should allow."
The former chief executive originally asked for permission to build a garage and workshop.
However, once permission was granted he decided that he wanted storage space on the first floor for horse feed and a ground floor toilet.
Council planners told him that any additional changes would require further planning permission.
Mr Thorogood did not wait for permission to be granted before giving builders the go-ahead.
At the time he was reminded that any building works should only be carried out after permission was first granted. But a little over three months after the advice Mr Thorogood's wife Alison asked Swansea Council tourism chiefs about having the garage inspected for use as a holiday let.
Four days later an official complaint was made and stunned planning inspectors later discovered a kitchen, laminate flooring on the first floor "storage area", a sleeping room and shower had been included.
Yesterday's vote means Mr Thorogood will be allowed to keep all the changes.
However, he will have to change the colour of all the windows in his main house.And he was told the garage can only be used as ancillary accommodation to his six bedroom home and not as a holiday let.
Councillor Phillips said he should have been forced to adhere to the original plans."The applicant has shown contempt upon contempt for the planning process. By a process of attrition and small steps he has got exactly what he wanted," he said.
Mr Thorogood quit his £120,000-a-year job with the council in January after councillors decided he had a case to answer over his handling of the planning applications. He was given a £60,000 pay-off.
Councilor Margaret Smith, who represents Pennard, said people living in the area would now be tempted to follow suit."People have been coming to me saying this is one step too far," she said.
"They are thinking that he has been rewarded for doing wrong when they would have been told to remove it."
Swansea Council's former top boss is being allowed to keep his one-bedroom garage at his luxury Gower home after a planning wrangle was yesterday finally settled. Councillors voted 12 to seven to grant it retrospective planning permission despite claims it could open the floodgates to similar applications from other homeowners in the area.
Tim Thorogood has been told that his garage which now incorporates a shower, toilet and first-floor living space, including a bedroom, can stay despite straying from the original plans submitted while he was still head of Swansea Council.
It is the third time Mr Thorogood has asked for planning permission for the garage after unauthorised changes on two occasions.The decision, taken at a Swansea Council planning meeting, was immediately slammed by those who voted against it. It came after councillors were advised by officials to pass the application or risk a costly appeal to the Assembly.
However, a number of councillors called for Mr Thorogood to be forced to change the garage.Councilor Margaret Smith said the result signalled open season for building on Gower while Labour leader David Phillips said: "I am amazed, but not surprised by the decision to allow it."The councillors are scared of it going to appeal. But as an authority we gave permission for one thing and that is what we should allow."
The former chief executive originally asked for permission to build a garage and workshop.
However, once permission was granted he decided that he wanted storage space on the first floor for horse feed and a ground floor toilet.
Council planners told him that any additional changes would require further planning permission.
Mr Thorogood did not wait for permission to be granted before giving builders the go-ahead.
At the time he was reminded that any building works should only be carried out after permission was first granted. But a little over three months after the advice Mr Thorogood's wife Alison asked Swansea Council tourism chiefs about having the garage inspected for use as a holiday let.
Four days later an official complaint was made and stunned planning inspectors later discovered a kitchen, laminate flooring on the first floor "storage area", a sleeping room and shower had been included.
Yesterday's vote means Mr Thorogood will be allowed to keep all the changes.
However, he will have to change the colour of all the windows in his main house.And he was told the garage can only be used as ancillary accommodation to his six bedroom home and not as a holiday let.
Councillor Phillips said he should have been forced to adhere to the original plans."The applicant has shown contempt upon contempt for the planning process. By a process of attrition and small steps he has got exactly what he wanted," he said.
Mr Thorogood quit his £120,000-a-year job with the council in January after councillors decided he had a case to answer over his handling of the planning applications. He was given a £60,000 pay-off.
Councilor Margaret Smith, who represents Pennard, said people living in the area would now be tempted to follow suit."People have been coming to me saying this is one step too far," she said.
"They are thinking that he has been rewarded for doing wrong when they would have been told to remove it."
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