A bitter row has erupted in a wealthy suburb after ‘ludicrous’ plans for a garden makeover were granted by council officers.

Townhouses on Cranbrook Road, in the affluent Redland area of Bristol, are characterised by their steep hillside gardens filled with greenery.

But neighbours fear they will now be forced to look over a ‘concrete pit’ after a homeowner was given permission to gut out and ‘flatten’ their garden, build an elevated annexe, and extend the back of their home.

They say the ‘monstrous’ outbuilding will look into their bedrooms and ruin the character of the area, and worry the removal of huge amounts of earth could leave their neighbouring gardens at risk of collapsing.

But homeowner Dhanesh Singh insists there will be ‘no overlooking’ and claims they have no intention of ‘flattening’ the garden and replacing it with concrete.

He told the council the garden would be divided into tiered sections of grass for their children to play and the extension would be used to house an elderly relative.

‘We’re not asking for the world, we just want somewhere for our kids to play with their grandad,’ the father said at a council meeting where he claimed the family felt ‘victimised’.

However, neighbours on the leafy street, where homes average at over £700,000, are unconvinced, and have told of their ‘nightmare’ ordeal fighting against the ‘absurd’ development.

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Before and after of how the garden looked prior to any work being done. After shows work being done to the back garden in the summer of last year shortly before it was paused

Neighbours have described the transformation at Mr Singh’s home (pictured, centre) as ‘absolutely ridiculous’

Plans submitted by the applicant for the extension, garden retaining wall and garden room

A neighbour told the Mail: ‘You only have to look out the back door to see why we have been fighting it. It’s absolutely ridiculous what they are doing.

‘We’ve got very steep gardens, and what they intend to do on their side is just ludicrous.

‘From the plans they’ve put on the portal, they want to dig the whole of the garden out and it’ll just be a concrete pit.

‘They said its going to have grass but that’s not what is in the plans.

‘How can you gauge out that amount of a hillside in a lovely area where it’s all green? There’s a conservation area at the top of that.

‘It’s part of a wildlife corridor. How can you dig that out, fill it up with concrete, and say that respects the landscape? 

‘Of course it would affect the character of the area and what’s nice about living here. On what planet is it fine?

‘How on earth can the council come out and say “it’s all fine”?

‘If they get what they want that is just going to be a concrete pit. 

‘It’s horrible and we’re going to have to look out at that building forever more if they get that, and it’s going to look straight into the back of our house.

 ‘In our wildest nightmares we never thought they would do this and that it would be allowed.

‘It’s a monstrosity. 

‘We are not going to be forced out of our house and garden.’

At a council meeting last week, the planning committee was split over the decision, with four councillors voting for and four voting against.

Committee chairman Don Alexander used his casting vote to approve the controversial plans.

The plans would see the back of the house extended by five metres and large amounts of earth from the steep garden removed to level the ground.

An outbuilding is also to be built on top of an elevated platform at the back of the garden which neighbours worry will overlook their homes. Approval for the shed was already passed through permitted development.

Pictured: Mr Singh’s property with building materials piled up in the front and back gardens 

Works had already begun on the garden (pictured) prior to approval but have been left in a sorry state

Works had already begun on the garden prior to approval but have been left in a sorry state.

Neighbours on either side worry for the structural integrity of their gardens if the earth were to be flattened, and say it would be surrounded with concrete retaining walls.

A neighbour said: ‘It could collapse. 

‘Unless they do it really, really properly, both gardens either side could collapse sideways and the ground at the back could slump forward. 

‘It has already started crumbling at the back because they said they were going to put retaining walls but they didn’t.’

‘All the way through the council took months and months to decide on this application. 

‘There were objections from neighbours which made loads and loads of really valid objections on planning terms, they ignored the entire lot, never came to see it, even though it was called into committee because it was such a contentious issue and it was so radical.

‘There are policies that say developments have to fit in with the local character of the area, they have to enhance it. But they ignored all that. 

‘I think its a desk-clearing exercise. They are in special measures, they are on their knees, they are understaffed, they’ve got no resources, and what’s the way to get something off your desk? To pass it.’

They told of how diggers had come in during the summer of 2024 and dug out ‘loads and loads’ of earth, sometimes until 10pm.

‘There was a guy who came in with a digger and he came through the front of the house, through their hall, through their kitchen, pushing all the ground around, and spent weeks and weeks out there until he created this concrete structure’, a neighbour said.

An aerial shot shows the mud hill built up in Mr Singh’s back garden and the extensive renovation work being carried out on the property

‘He created a flat plinth and then they pumped concrete to create this wall in front. They are going to build two and a half metres high from there and about seven metres wide.

‘And now they intend to build this monstrous shed at the top of the garden. They’ve already pushed that through under permitted development.

‘They don’t think that’s a privacy issue but us and our neighbours think it is. 

‘You shouldn’t be allowed to build something that is going to look into the back of your neighbour’s houses.

‘It goes on and on. You would not believe the number of strands and absurdities in all this, because they should never have passed the plans.

‘What’s happened already is they’ve taken loads and loads of earth out. Massive lorry-loads of earth over the summer in 2024, with multiple diggers.

‘They built that terrace at the back, stripped out all the grass complete. This was completely denuded for a long time. 

‘If this building had been at the end of a flat garden we would have no problem. 

‘It’s the fact it’s going to be on top of this elevated structure and it’s just going to be looking into the back of us.’

During the committee meeting, Mr Singh told councillors: ‘There’s no overlooking, privacy or sunlight shadowing. 

‘The extension is at the rear of the property, so not visible from the street or public realm. 

‘We would like to create a garden for not just this generation, but the one after as well. 

‘We feel victimised and all we want is a resolution to all of this.

‘Financially, it’s been a strain. 

‘We’re not asking for the world, we just want somewhere for our kids to play with their grandad. 

‘The garden isn’t going to be a concrete jungle. 

‘We want to put grass down and keep as much turf in it as possible because it costs money to get rid of that turf. My kids live with a camping stove and an air fryer at the moment.’