A frustrated Bradford couple have claimed a boundary change in plans for some new homes behind their house will trap their caravan.
Dee and Graham Stather, of St Mary’s Gardens in Wyke, say the original plans for houses in Green Lane showed much smaller gardens.
Now the couple claim the plans have changed and the gardens will be bigger, leaving their caravan trapped on the driveway at the back of their house.
Mrs Stather said: “We were reassured by the Council that our caravan would get out no problem but we have got no chance.
“We were happy enough with the new houses at first, but the plans have changed and the gardens have been extended closer to our house.
“I went to the Council offices and they promised me that the boundary would not go any further.”
Mrs Stather, who claimed they were not told of the extended garden plans, said: “I feel let down and hurt that I went to the trouble of speaking to someone personally at the Council, who showed me the plans and reassured me that the caravan was okay where it was.
“Us little people have been walked over. I want them to go back to the original plans.”
Mrs Stather, 59, who does not work because of health problems, said the £300 caravan was the couple’s only means of going on holiday. Mr Stather used to reverse the caravan back in with his car, but it is now too tight.
Mrs Stather said the original plans would still have allowed her husband to complete the manoeuvre.
She added that they could not afford the £400 it would cost to store it at a caravan storage place in Bingley, or the £500 it would cost for a remote-controlled caravan mover.
“We were going to go away this Bank Holiday, so it ruined that,” said Mrs Stather. “We could have come back and not been able to get the caravan back in.
“And I daren’t book a holiday anywhere for August in case we can’t get the caravan out.”
A spokesman for the Council’s planning department said: “Planning permission was granted for a new housing development on Green Lane which is also the land at the rear of houses on St Mary's Gardens, Wyke in March 2013. All of the neighbours were notified.
“The plans show some land which allows for a retained access to the rear of houses on St Mary's Gardens. The applicants have indicated that they own all of the land in the planning application.
“We can check to make sure the developer is complying with the approved permission, including building only on the land covered by the permission. But any dispute over the use of private land will be a matter for the residents to take up with the developer. We are contacting this lady today to discuss the matter further.”
Yorkshire Homes Ltd owns the land in question. Its director Joe Moon said: “I am hoping to leave a channel down the back for them to get their caravan out, as a goodwill gesture. We will make every possible provision to bear them in mind.”
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