WARWICKSHIRE
A council has ordered a man to move a tiny wind chime from his back garden following an investigation that cost more than £1,000 (Rs 85,511).
David Bavington was stunned to receive an official letter claiming that the 1indiameter chime was a 'statutory nuisance' following a complaint. And he was warned he had to take it down - or be served with a noise abatement order and face legal action. Ironically Mr Bavington, 57, and his wife Sheila bought the chime to create a feeling of calm while they were sitting in the garden of their £300,000 (Rs 25,653, 474) detached home in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, with noisy airliners flying overhead on final approach to Coventry airport just over a mile away.
But, instead, it has landed them in a two-month legal row with officials at Rugby Borough Council, which has spent £1,000 writing letters, phoning the couple and sending two officers out to listen to the chime because of a complaint that it tinkled too loudly in windy weather. Now the couple have agreed to move it 15ft from their garden fence on to an apple tree as a compromise solution to settle the dispute and end the legal action.
Retired sales executive Mr Bavington said: "You can't even hear the chime if you go inside the house. But the council said there had been a complaint from someone who was annoyed by the tinkling. I told them it was ridiculous. Sending around officers to listen to a tiny wind chime is a complete waste of taxpayers' money." But Sean Lawson, head of environment for the council, said officers had a duty to investigate every complaint. "It does cost a lot of money - about £1,000 for something like this - but it is our job.
People become very concerned about noises or anything else that intrudes into their lives from their neighbours' gardens." The Bavingtons' next-door neighbour, Robin Trigger, refused to say whether he had made the complaint. He added: "I have absolutely no comment to make."
No comments:
Post a Comment