Battle over house to be settledÂ

Tensions started when a planning application submitted by Oakleaf Architecture was approved illegally.

It was to build a five-bedroom house near a greenfield site between 94 and 98 Wheel Lane, Grenoside.

But Mark Barlow, a neighbouring resident and managing director of IFM Insurance, complained after he discovered the council had gone against national and local planning policy by delegating the decision rather than putting it before the planning committee.

He then took them to court where he won a judicial review but had to pay £5,000 in legal fees.

It was then submitted a second time and is now going before the council's planning and highways committee for a decision to finally be made.

During the consultation period for the application only one person approved the plans out of 31. Of those, 26 were local residents.

The East Ecclesfield Parish Council also formally objected and suggested the city council refuse the application.

Councillor David Pepper, Ecclesfield Parish Council, said: 'The proposed dwelling is out of proportion, has very little garden space and inadequate parking provision for a five bedroom house.'

One resident said: 'The development will be invasive and dominate the other properties and occupants, destroying their right to light and privacy.'

Another said: 'The proposed scale is overly large and dominant and will form a visually incongruous feature within the street scene.'

A different resident said: 'The development will dominate the skyline. The land is higher than it was previously; therefore the houses will be much higher and overbear numbers 94 and 98.'

Two applications have previously been approved for houses on the site but both expired before they were built.

The proposals will be discussed at a planning and highways committee meeting on Tuesday, September 25 at 2pm.