Homeowners rapped for converting Green Belt farmland into gardens can keep grass and 6ft fences - despite having no planning permission.

Residents in Soureby Cross Way, East Bierley, failed in December to get planning permission for gardens they had tended for three years.

But Kirklees Council has revealed that fences and turf are acceptable as are trees if they are not ornate garden plants.

And planners said officers would struggle to monitor the gardens or enforce the decision if they again refused permission when a second application is lodged.

Carol Cockroft, who with husband Chris paid £2,500 for their plot, said: "The Council has no objection to the fences or trees that some of us have put in and the garden furniture isn't permanent.

"The only question mark is the length of the grass and how often we can cut it, but that would be difficult to monitor."

The families, who were all offered land by farmer and former Kirklees councillor Robert Light and his brother Malcolm, failed in November to get retrospective permission for gardens after planners were tipped off.

The Council's Heavy Woollen Planning Committee said the homeowners had been badly advised by the Lights and their solicitors who failed to tell them permission was needed. But planning officers now say the issue of what constitutes a garden is not "black and white".

They will only act on the 16 others in the village, who also extended their gardens without permission, if they receive a complaint. Senior planning officer Edward Wills said: "We don't want to get into a silly situation where we are measuring the grass."

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