Council bills green-fingered couple nearly £500 for growing vegetables in their own garden

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A green-fingered couple who turned to self-sufficiency during lockdown have accused council bosses of losing the plot after being slapped with a bill of nearly £500 for growing vegetables in their own garden. 

Amateur growers Lee and Kirstie Lawes decided to transform part of their lawn into a vegetable patch as a lockdown hobby – one they could enjoy with their two-year-old granddaughter Ella.

The pair, from Deeping St James, Lincs, were so successful with their growing that they even started handed out their produce among neighbours.

But their well-meaning pandemic project may now have to be uprooted after council chiefs said installing the vegetable patch had constituted a ‘change of use’ of the land.

Despite them owning the land, it had for years been left without a fence, meaning it has been open to the public.

Dad-of-four Lee, 53, who runs his own fire and security business, says he consulted Land Registry records, which show the land has been part of the property since 1969.

But according to the council the area is classed in planning terms as open space.

And they say by turning it into a place where vegetables are grown they have officially changed its use – meaning they need to submit a ‘change of use’ planning application.

South Kesteven District Council now wants to charge the couple £469 for planning permission, leaving the couple baffled.

Lee, who spent around £3,000 building the 9ft by 15ft vegetable plot, said: ‘We moved into the house in December 2020, and on Christmas Day found a car parked on our garden.

‘This happened a couple of times, and I also became fed up with having to pick up dog poo from the grass before I mowed it.

‘We were having issues with dog mess and litter too so it was an obvious thing to do as anyone could pretty much walk into our garden. 

‘So, in January last year we decided to put in a new fence and use that part of the garden for raised vegetable beds.

‘It was great – we ended up with so much produce we were able to give some to neighbours and left some out so that people could help themselves.’

However around a year later, Lee said he received a letter from the council say they had to pay £469 for a ‘change of use’ of the land. 

He said: ‘Somebody has complained to the council about the fence, incidentally this person doesn’t even live in the area, even though it is on our land and several feet away from the property border.   

‘We first had an enforcement notice through the post, which was full on inaccuracies, claiming we had built the fence on public land.

‘I sent them back Land Registry information that proved that wasn’t the case so they sent a revised enforcement notice through which we received yesterday.

‘It points out that although the land is in our ownership, it states that we need to apply for planning permission for change of use to an open space in a private residential garden.

‘So essentially does that mean anybody who builds a vegetable plot in their back garden has to apply for planning permission?’

Speaking about the authority’s decision to pursue him, Lee said: ‘I accept the council are following procedure but it’s the hypocrisy of it that I find frustrating.

‘The government is telling us to be more sustainable but when someone starts to “grow their own”, the council tells you to pay £469 for the privilege.

‘It would have been easier to extend our house onto the land.’

Despite Lee’s frustration, South Kesteven District Council claim the couple have breached planning rules by using informal open space which, although it is in their ownership, requires planning permission for use as private garden.

Grandfather-of-one Lee, who lives with wife Kirstie, 54, a doctors practice manager, added: ‘I don’t see why we need planning permission to create somewhere to grow vegetables.

‘I’m not building a great big structure, nobody from the outside can tell any differently. Its not like its a jacuzzi or a summer house – its is a veg patch. 

‘It is our garden and we will not be paying for the privilege of being able to grow vegetables.’

A spokesman for South Kesteven District Council said the issue was due to the land being classed as ‘informal open space’.

The spokesman said: ‘The land at the rear of these properties is classed as informal open space and the owner has not applied for planning permission to change that.

‘We have been advising them throughout on the lawful use of this land and continue to offer informal help while encouraging them to apply for planning permission, without which they might struggle to re-mortgage or sell the property.’

Its not the first time a council has gone after green-fingered gardeners growing vegetables in their back gardens.

In 2014 a couple in Bradford who lived off food grown in their back garden became embroiled in a legal battle – because their allotment ‘violated planning laws’.

Amanda Wadiun, 26, and her partner Paul Garnett, 29, bought the disused plot of land behind their home from Bradford council in 2010.  

However, they were threatened with ‘enforcement action’ and a warning to demolish the wooden chicken run, shed and vegetable patch because they were not allowed to use the land as a ‘garden’ – despite selling the plot as ‘a private garden’.

The council the family could apply for retrospective planning permission but that the authority would recommend refusal. 

However the authority later backed down saying there were ‘special circumstances which justified granting permission for the owners to erect a greenhouse and use it as a garden, especially since it had been used as such for many years’.

Lee and Kirstie are among the millions who turned to gardening to help them cope with Covid lockdowns.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last year, as many as 42 per cent of Britons said gardening helped keep them occupied while being unable to socialise with friends.

Around 750,000 Britons also searched for tips on growing garden variety crops on the Royal Horticultural Society website. 

The rise in back garden growing even sparked praise from Prince Charles, who likened it to the famous Second World War ‘Dig for Victory’ slogan, which encouraged more people to grow vegetables in their back garden in a time of harsh wartime good rationing.

Speaking on Farming Today back in June 2020, the Prince said: ‘It appears that most of us have given much more thought than perhaps has usually been the case to the story behind our food during Covid-19.

‘Food availability was clearly an early issue; perhaps food shortages prompted many people to think for the very first time about whether they could depend on secure and reliable supplies of food in the post-Covid world?

‘I was fascinated to hear that sales of vegetable seeds reached an all-time high as a ‘dig for victory spirit’ swept through the land and urban and country dwellers alike decided to requisition their gardens, allotments and window boxes to grow food in a way perhaps not seen since the Second World War.’

* Are you a back garden vegetable grower who has had a run-in with the local council? Contact me: james.robinson@mailonline.co.uk