A HOMEOWNER has been given permission to alter a bungalow threatened with demolition because Bury Council planners said it was built in the wrong place.

Chris Bleakley began building a detached dormer bungalow in Church Street, Ainsworth in 2010 but Bury Council’s planners said it was 3m further forward than it should have been.

Years of legal wrangling between the council and Mr Bleakley, who claimed the distance was 0.5m, ensued.  

At a town hall meeting last night, his compromise for the building was passed unanimously by councillors. 

After the meeting, Mr Bleakley said he would now finish the build and sell the bungalow because the altered plans meant it was “no longer his dream home”.

He added: “This building is not my dream any more, it is completely what the council wants it to be.”

Mr Bleakley’s proposal to remove the gables on either side of the bungalow and put these at the front and rear will “regularise the positioning of the house within the plot”, the pre-planning report states.

He previously submitted amended plans in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but these were all rejected by Bury Council on the grounds they would still be “intrusive on the street scene”.

Appeals against all three decisions by Mr Bleakley were also dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate.

Bury Council’s Planning Control Committee require him to submit more details of the boundary fencing and water drainage system before he can go ahead with work.

Mr Bleakley’s immediate neighbour and the Ainsworth Community Association objected to the plans over concerns about drainage and run-off from the site, and the removal of a hedge in Green Lane.