NEIGHBOURS are battling to “vigorously resist” four unauthorised roof extensions on a house next to the village green.

Stephen Orton and Karen Lally are applying to get retrospective planning permission for four dormers on Clifton House, Upper Basildon.

The home faces the green in the centre of the village.

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This application is the third time they have asked West Berkshire Council to keep the four roof extensions, originally building them without planning permission.

But their neighbours and the local parish are arguing Mr Orton and Ms Lally should have followed the rules in the first place, and that the extensions are “overbearing and intrusive”, as they reportedly look into next-door gardens.

Altogether 11 people have written to the council, objecting to the plans. One neighbour, David Reid, called them “unsightly”. Another, Peter Warren-Tibbets, said the dormers spoil the appearance of the house, and “should be vigorously resisted”.

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Jacquie Davies, also writing to the council, said: “This issue isn’t really about what the windows look like; that is a total red herring!

“These windows were added without planning permission and the council has refused retrospective permission twice, but is making no effort to enforce their own decision.

“What is happening here, as I’m sure you are aware, is that this will bat back and forth for four years until everybody gives up and the windows stay. 

“My guess is that the council will find it too expensive and time-consuming to enforce this case, because a few extra windows don’t really matter too much. And if this is the case, what value is there to the planning process?”

Councillors on the eastern area planning committee, which will meet on February 19, will decide whether to approve planning permission.

Helen Robertson, assistant planning officer, said councillors should approve the plans. She explained her views in a report to the committee.

Ms Robertson said: “No weight can be given to the fact that the dormers are already in situ and the application is assessed accordingly.

“The property is already prominent and imposing, occupying a dominant position within the street at the end of the village green.

“The addition of appropriately scaled and sited dormers would not necessarily further increase its prominent appearance.”