Dog school couple in 11th hour appeal over demolition order

Brett and Eileen Ainsworth won planning permission for the barn in 2006 and have used it as a crop and machinery store and a base for their dog training school, called Delinquent Dogz, for several years.

Mr Ainsworth claimed the building had been put up under “deemed consent” which is available for agricultural purposes and said planners had not made any objection to its size or scale at the time.

However Rotherham Council has now given the couple three months to pull the building down, claiming it is inappropriate development in the green belt, and said there had been concerns over its construction since 2007.

The authority says that the use of the building, in Morthen Road, Thurcroft, as a dog training school is commercial and not acceptable, and planners also claim the building does not match approved plans and is “much too large”.

At a meeting last Thursday, Rotherham’s planning board rejected Mr and Mrs Ainsworth’s latest application to retain the building and said legal action would start in 12 weeks if demolition did not begin.

But yesterday Mr Ainsworth told the Yorkshire Post the dog agility venue provided jobs for himself, his wife and his daughter Michelle, and brought thousands of visitors to the area every year.

He added: “We use the building mainly for agricultural storage, both as a crop store and somewhere to lock up machinery and I asked the head of planning what I would do with my crop if the building went.

“He said he didn’t care and it was not his problem. There are also two toilets in the building, a kitchen, a club room and an office, and they are using that as an excuse to make me pull it down.”

Mr Ainsworth said planners had originally waved through the 5,000 sq ft building, and said he was now planning a meeting with his MP Kevin Barron over what he called the council’s “negligence”.

He added: “They are trying to remove our livelihood. We will try and fight it, and will offer to stop using the building for the dog agility, but I will go to the High Court if necessary.”

At last week’s meeting, councillors were told the site had a long planning history following the original permission being granted in 2006.

Officers said an enforcement notice was served in November 2007 and a subsequent appeal was dismissed the following year.

The authority then received a number of applications to effectively retain the building and use it for a variety of alternative purposes, all of which were refused.

Appeals were then lodged by the Ainsworths but the planning inspector dealing with these appeals concluded that the building represented inappropriate development in the green belt.

The inspector said the building should be demolished by December 2011, but the building remains in place.

Rotherham Council’s director of planning, Paul Woodcock, said members of the council’s planning board had been “particularly patient” with the application.

He added: “There has been a long history to this particular site,” he added: “And we have given Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth every opportunity to rectify the situation.

“But unfortunately, on every occasion they have failed to take any action, even after the Planning Inspectorate agreed with our decisions.

“We are giving them another three months to take the building down and if they do not we will have to prosecute.

“This is a clear message from our members that where unauthorised developments are unacceptable, particularly in the green belt, they will ensure that appropriate action is taken to sort the situation out.”

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