Angry neighbours not a fan of ‘alien house’ that’s landed next door | UK News

A group of neighbours are furious after they say a resident redeveloped a small bungalow into an ‘alien spaceship’.

They claim the new property – a huge home sitting on the site of the bungalow in Sandgate, Kent – is an ‘eye sore’.

Sunnyside Road residents say it looks a bit like a ‘shed on steroids’ which ‘sticks out like a sore thumb’ next to the surrounding homes.

An admin mistake meant they were left in the dark about the rebuilding plans and they say they only found out about them after building work started.

Before and after photos show the incredible transition from an old bungalow into a large, modern home with massive sea-facing windows.

One resident said it wouldn’t look out of place in the Serengeti – but it doesn’t match the modest homes around it.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) have apologised for the mistake, which has seen some residents lose their former seaside views.

The unusual house is set to feature on Channel 4’s Extraordinary Extensions, which sees presenter Tinie Tempah follow homeowners as they add impressive, often radical, extensions to their properties.

‘I have ended up with my wife wanting to sit in the garden for the sun and all we see now is a great black, nasty, wooden wall,’ said Stuart Macintyre, 84, who lives oppositethe house.

Stuart, who said the house is ‘horrendous’, is now warning people to check the local council’s planning portal more often so the same thing doesn’t happen to them.

Back in 2019 the resident submitted an application to the council to increase the height of the bungalow’s roof and add three windows.

But then significant redevelopment plans were unveiled in December 2020 – and in April the following year these plans were finally approved with just two objections from a local resident and Sandgate Society.

John Rhodes, who lives in flats in Castle Bay, said he knew about the first small planning bid but had no idea about the second.

The 70-year-old said: ‘They told me they have planning approval for it and on December 24, 2020, an application was put in, which was the first we knew about it.

‘Letters were not sent out and there was a single [planning] notice put in Sunnyside Road. This was after the consultation period had come to an end.’

An officer’s report by FHDC said the proposal is considered a ‘high-quality design’.

But other Sunnyside Road residents don’t feel the same way, instead agreeing with the neighbours.

Glenn Ensor, 60, said: ‘The basic human response when you see what was there before and what is there now is ‘what kind of bounds of planning was this within?’ because it is such a dramatic change.

‘It is like an alien spaceship has landed on top of a bungalow.’

Nicola South, 46, whose home overlooks the property, said: ‘We thought we had rights, we would be consulted on and we would be listened to, but that is not the case.

‘Residents should check the planning website once a month. We were not sent out letters.

‘Throughout this process, we were told to follow the proper routes, but did not have that opportunity so we could not have a say.’

She described Heatherbank, the name of the home, as a ‘big, black blob’.

She continued: ‘It would look amazing in the Serengeti but not in the middle of Sandgate where there are a lot of white and cottagey homes.

‘Surely any kind of development or extension is not supposed to overpower the existing area, which it does, and this is what people need to be aware of.’

A Folkestone and Hythe District Council spokesperson said the application in 2020 was advertised with a notice placed very close to the site of the home and also advertised in a local newspaper.

The spokesperson added: ‘Unfortunately, due to a technical error, notification letters to neighbouring properties are not believed to have been sent out.

‘We have apologised to the local residents affected by this, and our process for notifying neighbours has been amended so this omission is not repeated.’

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