‘I couldn’t have a garage but they say this shipping container is okay’

A FATHER-OF-FOUR who put a shipping container outside his home has been told he can keep it. 

Trevor Stephenson was forced to demolish a pre-fab garage outside his home, in Harmire Road, last year after Durham County Council told him it was harmful to the character of the area.

The 39-year-old responded by installing a green shipping container in its place which does not break any planning regulations.

Officials at the county council launched an investigation in the wake of its erection but found there was nothing they could do to stop it. Mr Stephenson said he was happy the dispute was over for now but added that the whole experience had been financially costly and frustrating.

He said: “I am angry really. Everything I put forward they refused – they have been awkward every step of the way. At one point I felt like it was a personal vendetta.”

The father-of-four initially built the pebble-dashed garage off the two bedroom bungalow in 2013 for extra storage space for bicycles and gardening equipment.

But planning officers stepped in, telling Mr Stephenson stuck out too much and was built on a boundary wall.

He appealed against the decision in June 2015 but the planning inspectorate turned him down and ordered him to demolish the extension.

Mr Stephenson said he had offered to move his garage one foot to fit in with regulations but planning officers had refused.

He added: “It’s pathetic really – the amount of man hours and woman hours wasted. It just needed a bit of common sense.

“I have lost quite a lot of money and an awful lot of time.

“I offered to move it to where the container is now but they said no – they changed the goalposts every time I mentioned something.”

Mr Stephenson was fined £180 in July 2016 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £20 and costs of £660 after being convicted of failing to comply with an enforcement notice. He finally took down the garage late last year but noticed if he put a shipping container two metres from his garden wall and bought one no higher than 2.5m it would not contravene planning rules.

The £1,000 green container is one foot longer than his former garage.

He admitted the container “did not look great” but he was happy he now had some storage space and his children could now go to school on their bikes.

He added: “Everyone I know has been behind me and people know the hassle I have had. I did not think the garage was out of place at all.

“I am glad it’s over. It’s not the outcome I wanted – I would have preferred the garage.”

Stuart Timmiss, head of planning at the county council, said planning laws made it clear the container was a “permitted development” in this type of area.

“Therefore, as a local authority, we have no powers at all to deal with this matter,” he added.

Free sports sessions in Teesdale for teens, run by YMCA

FREE multi-sports sessions are being held in Barnard Castle to encourage more young people to get involved with Teesdale YMCA.

Youth support workers Josh Barker and Chris Elstob will be leading the weekly sessions in the town’s local parks which will involve activities such as cricket, rounders and football.

Mr Barker, 19, who has been involved with the YMCA for the past five years, said: “We are trying to reach new people and get them to come and get involved with the YMCA. A lot of people don’t know about our sports sessions which started about six weeks ago.

“We do different sports each week. We might start playing football but then we might change and play rounders. We try to make it enjoyable for everyone.”

The sessions are held every Tuesday from 6.30pm until 7.30pm and are open to 11 to 17-year-olds. They are currently being held at the green space just off Montalbo Road and Marwood Drive.

Mr Barker said: “It has been good to see people who would not usually get involved with the YMCA.

“This is a new way of bringing people together with team-building activities.

“It lets people see what we do as an organisation and helps people make new friends. It gets a lot of young people out of the house. The YMCA gives young people in Teesdale opportunities.

“There are lots of things available for them to do. It is somewhere to chill out with friends.

“You can speak to different people other than your siblings or your parents.”

The sessions are being funded through a £300,000 grant that the group was awarded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme. Youth and community development manager Hannah Parratt said: “As part of that funding we will focus on three different areas – sport and health, drugs and alcohol and mental health – as well as trying to get more volunteers involved.

“We want to reach people who we are not engaging with at the moment.

“There is nothing for older people who are playing sports at ground level. They have to be playing at a competitive level.

“These sessions help take away the barriers to sport that a lot of people face.”

To find out more about the sessions, contact Teesdale YMCA on 01833 695780.

Children become good mates as they link up for Teesdale chess cup

IT was checkmate for pupils in Gainford last week as they won the Teesdale junior school chess league.

Teams from six primary schools across the dale competed in the three-week tournament. Each round was held at a different school and the final matches took place at Gainford Primary School last Tuesday afternoon.

Gainford Primary School was the overall winner with 36 points followed by Cotherstone Primary School in second place with 26 points.

Ingleton Primary School took third place with 17 points closely followed by Staindrop Primary School who won 16 points. Montalbo Primary School and Woodland Primary School were joint fifth with nine points.

Gainford headteacher Howard Blindt said: “It is an annual competition which started in 1994. It helps the children’s mental development. Some children find it therapeutic but it is educational too.

“There is also a social side which brings all of the children together.”

‘We watched them target our beautiful river’

A BRAZEN act of daylight flytipping has left Startforth Park residents furious. 

Stunned villagers watched on as the flytippers pushed a wheelbarrow laden with a chest freezer along The Sills, near Gill Lane, before dumping the freezer over a wall and into the undergrowth alongside the river.

A woman who saw the incident, which happened shortly after 7pm on Monday, June 20, said: “Then they threw the wheelbarrow over.”

The items landed in a stream that runs into the River Tees. The freezer was filled with broken toys, lamps, bits of material and other items.

The woman added: “I called the police but they suggested I call the council in the morning. They were very sympathetic.”

She said flytipping was being made worse because only limited types of items are permitted at the recycling centre at Stainton Grove. It is also not open during the week. In the past it has been described as the tip that “doesn't take rubbish”.

The resident, who asked to not to be named, said: “It is a different story at Middleton – they are helpful there but it is far to travel.”

Startforth resident Jeff Smith spotted the dumped freezer the following day. He said: “It is unbelievable they could find such a beautiful spot to dump the rubbish.

“I know why people do it. It’s because of the cost of getting rid of it.

“It is an eyesore and it will be a hazard to the river if anything leaks out of the freezer.”

County officers are appealing to people to report flytipping when they sport it.

Ian Hoult, neighbourhood protection officer for Durham County Council, said: “We’re extremely disappointed by the lack of care or thought for our environment shown by the flytippers.

“It shows a total disregard for the communities who live in the area, and the private landowners who now have to deal with this mess.

“If anyone has information on flytipping in our county we’d implore them to come forward and contact us in strict confidence.”

To report flytipping contact the county’s highways and streetscene department on 03000 261 000.