Family left ‘despaired’ following nightmare neighbouring property development (Image: Joe Coughlan)
Neighbourhood works have left a family in despair after planned works spilt into his property.
Gavin Simpson, 53, a longtime resident of Beckenham, South London, said works greenlit by Adam Jude Grant, his Conservative councillor neighbour, have changed his street entirely.
Mr Simpson has lived on Southend Road for 20 years and claimed the neighbouring home was sold to Mr Grant five years ago.
In those five years, he claimed that the councillor – who is listed on the property portal as the applicant behind housing redevelopments – has tried to convert the home into a set of 11 and none flats before authorities approved a plan for seven.
The resulting works have gone “a bit south”, Mr Simpson said, with several incidents having occurred since they commenced.
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Pictures show the damaged column (Image: Joe Coughlan)
Speaking to MyLondon, the dad said the redevelopment has proven “frustrating”, especially since heavy machinery arrived.
On one occasion, he claimed that a lorry knocked down a stone pillar at the end of his driveway after reversing into it.
On another, a digger crashed into his fence, punching a wide hole in the wood.
Pictures supplied by the dad show a crumbled stack of bricks and exposed black fence with building works clearly visible on the other side.
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A broken fence on Mr Simpson’s property (Image: Joe Coughlan)
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Mr Simpson said extension works left a five-metre section of wall free standing on its own and that, while Mr Grant agreed to sign a written agreement to rebuild the wall, he is yet to follow through.
His family has “despaired” over the process of repairing their property and ensuring they keep their privacy.
He doesn’t wish to make an enemy of Mr Grant and said he understands his desire to carry out works on the property, but other neighbours have also expressed their discontent with the developments.
Mr Simpson said that other neighbours have drawn issue with the developed home’s nonconforming colour scheme.
He said: “Some of the other neighbours have taken umbrage at the colours… The argument is the whole run of houses is 150 years old. All of them are white, all of them have these features, and suddenly you’ve got this anomaly in the middle.”
He added: “I’m more worried about what happened with us… The fact that we could have had a five-metre wall fall on us. The fact that we’ve now lost the privacy that we had before and that I’m in an argument with the planning people to reestablish, at my own costs, what I had before.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the councillor for comment.
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