Royal Mail worker forced to tear down summer house in back garden

When Andrew Causley replaced a children’s play house in his garden with a summer house, he had visions of enjoying a cup of tea and reading the papers after work in the evening sun.

But instead, he has endured an 18-month battle with the local council costing him thousands of pounds after his next-door neighbour – an ex Labour councillor – reported the outhouse as an unauthorised construction.

He was served with an enforcement notice by Exeter City Council, despite the wooden building being smaller than many garden sheds and practically invisible from the street behind an evergreen hedge.

Mr Causley, 59, a HGV driver for Royal Mail, and wife Julie, 60, sought retrospective planning permission for the summer house in the corner of his front garden, and another one already built, but this was refused and he was given a deadline of Monday, November 17 to tear it down.

He insists he has always had a cordial relationship with neighbour Stephen Warwick up until this point, and was shocked by his reaction.

He said: ‘We haven’t had a cross word with him in 30 years but he just came over and said I’m a councillor, I don’t object but somebody else might.

‘I said they won’t because nobody apart from you can see it, if you don’t object then there’s no issue.

‘Then he wrote to the council themselves to report it.’

Mr Causley, from Exeter, Devon, said he has been told it’s the first planning enforcement action taken by Exeter City Council in almost three years.

Asked whether he feels his neighbour used his former role to exert influence over the decision, he said: ‘The council said it detracts from the street scene but you can only see it from his house, something doesn’t stack up.

‘I said to them, I think you’ve been influenced because he’s an ex-councillor. They insist they haven’t but I think they have.’

To read Mr Warwick’s public comment to the planning committee, it’s easy to see why Mr Causley may have reached that conclusion.

The former councillor for Alphington ward namechecks his taxpayer-funded political role – that he held for eight years before retiring in 2024 – three times and also separately mentions that he sat on the planning committee.

Mr Warwick could not be reached for comment but in his objection, he wrote: ‘On Easter Sunday 31st March 2024 Mr Causley approached me and asked me if it would be ok if he built a summer house at the site where he had recently removed a wooden child’s Wendy house in his front garden.

‘I advised Mr Causley strongly, acting in my capacity as a City Councillor and advising a constituent that he would probably need to get planning permission to build in his front garden.

‘In subsequent conversations with Mr and Mrs Causley I made it plain to them that I had no authority to give them permission to build in the front garden and that I had checked with the planning officers and the advice that I had previously given them regarding planning permission was correct.

‘I also advised them that they should contact the Exeter City Planning Officers for advice.

‘The structures already built have caused loss of vegetation along the boundary and this has led to a strip of our garden having to be gravelled all the way from the rear boundary to a third of the way down the front garden approximately.

‘It is appreciated from experience that compared to other developments across the City of Exeter this is small beer, however it does have the potential to have an impact on neighbouring properties and their occupants.’

Others on the street were outraged by the enforcement.

One close neighbour told the Daily Mail: ‘This is just typical of the corrupt Labour administration we have in charge.

‘The guy who made the complaint is an ex-Labour councillor and he’s convinced the planning committee to get involved.

‘Mr Causley is a reasonable guy but somebody has made a complaint over nothing and it’s cost him thousands to try and defend.

‘It’s just a big waste of time and money.

‘The planning people didn’t care at all when the residents spoke out about a development down the road.

‘What we have is a situation where nobody here supports the council on this.

‘It’s completely hidden behind a hedge so nobody else can see it but they are making a huge fuss about essentially a garden shed.’

Another said: ‘I really can’t see what the problem is, the guy is just getting on living his life.

‘Nobody can even see the summerhouse, we can’t and I don’t think our neighbours can either so why would anybody have an issue with it?

‘This cannot be the best use of the council’s time and resources.

‘To my mind they should just let him get on with it.’

Mr Causley said they spent £150 to buy the summer house – which replaces a wendy house built for his now adult children 25 years ago, which started leaking two years ago.

The couple installed it themselves and painted it green.

Inside the summerhouse are just two wicker sofas and it has no connected electricity.

Ms Causley said it had to be located in its current position to capture the sun.

He said the battle has already cost him close to £3,000 – with the council’s costs likely similar – but has vowed to take the fight to court if necessary to defend the building.

He said: ‘I just can’t see them winning at court

‘Is it out of character? Is it ugly? On balance most judges would say it’s not causing any harm to anybody.’

Exeter City Council said it could not comment on the case as it was ‘active’.