AN ILLEGAL "bed in a shed" in Prestwich was demolished after town-hall bosses got tough on a rule breaker.

That is just one of the cases detailed in a new Bury Council report, which says the borough's planning officers dealt with 129 complaints in the last three months of 2015, compared with 158 in the previous three months.

The report, which will be considered by Bury planning committee at its town-hall meeting next Tuesday evening, says there were 129 planning-related complaints to the council last year.

The council carried out site visits within ten days in all cases and it took them 48 hours on average.

Seventy complaints turned out to be founded and the council served four enforcement notices and four planning contravention notices.

One person received a formal caution and there were two prosecutions through county courts.

The report says: "The vast majority of these cases in this period were resolved…by negotiation or, where appropriate, the submission of a planning application."

One example the report gives of a case that could not be resolved amicably focuses on a property in Summerfield Road, off Heathlands Drive, Prestwich.

The report says: "This case relates to an existing garage building, which had an unauthorised extension built thereby doubling the property's size.

"The enforcement team gained entry and found it fitted out with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

"This was a clear indication that the owner was intending to use/rent out this building as a separate dwelling house, a so called 'bed in a shed' development.

"This breach of planning control resulted in an enforcement notice being issued in October 2014, requiring the demolition of the extension.

"The owner's failure to comply with the notice and lack of communication with the council following numerous requests to comply with the notice, resulted in proceedings being brought before the courts.

"The defendant pleaded (guilty) to the offence, was fined £2,000, ordered to pay £1,260 to the council in costs and pay a victim surcharge of £200, resulting in a total financial penalty of £3,460.

"Demolition works on the building have commenced and are being monitored to ensure full compliance."

Visit tinyurl.com/buryplanning2015 to read the full report.