A man has lost a planning battle to keep his pigeons after being told the "extraordinary number" he kept was unreasonable.
Pieter Obelholster, from Bedford, built the pigeon loft over a decade ago to house racing pigeons as a hobby but ever since has found himself in numerous planning appeals in order to keep his pigeons after he originally failed to gain planning permission.
Since then Mr Obelholster has amassed 250 pigeons in his pigeon loft and the council has said this is "at a scale which is greater than can reasonably be carried out on the land" and ordered him to reduce the number of pigeons being kept.
How big was the pigeon loft?
Mr Obelholster built the pigeon loft, which is 3.7 metres high and measures 29.94 square metres.
The single-storey, C-shaped, timber loft was built within the garden of the property and was originally erected in 2012 for the housing of racing pigeons.
Council order to remove pigeon loft within six months
Mr Obelholster originally thought the loft would qualify under permitted development rights as pigeon lofts would normally qualify under this.
However, he was told the pigeon loft breaches Section 172 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and that planning permission was needed to change the "use of land from a dwellinghouse to a mixed use... for the keeping of pigeons".
They also stated the structure "significantly exceeds 2m in height", which goes against what is permitted and that hobbies relating to animals are allowed as long as they do not disturb neighbours and the council received a number of complaints regarding the pigeons from locals.
Mr Obelholster was been ordered to remove the structures within one month and cease the use of the land for the keeping of pigeons in six months.
Man appeals against council's decision
In 2021 Mr Obelholster appealed the council's decision after claiming the pigeon loft did not breach the council's permitted development rights.
He stated: "A certificate of lawfulness exists and the council have behaved irrationally or unreasonably in serving enforcement in direct contradiction of their own protocols."
This caused years of delays but Mr Obelholster was eventually forced to apply for planning permission to keep the structure.
Now told 250 pigeons is too many
However, in a new twist the council has served another enforcement notice due to the loft now housing an "extraordinary number" of pigeons.
Alastair Wren, head of Bedford Borough Council’s Planning Committee, said: “Up to 250 pigeons were being kept at the site which comprises a fairly modest domestic property with neighbouring dwellings on either side.
“The Inspector considered that 250 pigeons was an extraordinary number to be kept at the site given its context, and determined that the keeping of pigeons at this scale went beyond something incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse."
The council stated: "The unlimited use of the land, insofar as it relates to the keeping of pigeons, is at a scale which is greater than can reasonably be carried out on the land, which is a garden of a dwelling in a row of dwellings. The use gives rise to amenity impacts on neighbouring residential properties."
Bedford Borough Council have now served another enforcement notice to Mr Obelholster, but this time to only reduce the number of pigeons to a more "reasonable number" but did not say how many this would be.
Mr Obelholster has the option to appeal this ruling.
