HUNDREDS of complaints about botched housing developments, breaches of planning laws and shockingly dirty land disputes can today be revealed across Worcester.

People across the city are repeatedly ignoring planning regulations to leave a trail of dismay, so much so that we can reveal how a staggering 200 complaints have yet to be dealt with.

Between 2011 and April last year 778 people contacted Worcester City Council about a huge range of planning disputes, despite just one investigator being employed to sort them out.

Your Worcester News can reveal: 

- 256 complaints were lodged over people starting developments without planning permission including home extensions, conservatories and even balconies 

- 51 complaints were around people getting permission for a development only to construct something slightly different

- Businesses placing distracting, unsightly adverts on public land across the city, including grass verges by major road networks and on lampposts totalled 112 complaints

- Front gardens full of rubbish, overflowing garages, dodgy repairs to listed buildings and demolition work in conservation areas made up another 131 complaints

The council decided in 118 cases it was “not expedient” to take action, mainly on grounds of cost, and resolved another 211 by negotiating with the owner.

In another 254 complaints, the authority could find no evidence of any planning breaches, while around 200 cases are still outstanding.

In one example a homeowner in Humber Road had to tear down a huge timber balcony after erecting it without planning approval.

After he was investigated the homeowner was told a planning application was unlikely to be accepted, but he went ahead and submitted it anyway.

After planning officials rejected it the resident had to tear it down – the third balcony which has had to be ripped down in Worcester since 2011.

Jonathan Lester, the council’s enforcement officer, says in the last few months a further three illegal balconies have been identified in Worcester.

He added: “My plea is, if you are in any doubt please do approach us – the information is out there and it’s easy to ask.

“You do get the public saying ‘throw the book at them’ but you can’t use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it has to be proportionate.”

Since 2011 just three people have ended up in court for planning enforcement breaches.

It includes a homeowner who was slapped with a £2,000 court fine for the shocking state of 58 Timberdine Avenue, Battenhall.

Philip Gunwhy was hit with the fine by magistrates in October 2012 after failing to act on numerous complaints, notices and court orders over the untidy appearance of the house.

Other court cases include Mohammed Haque, owner of the old Kilbury Fish Bar, in Kilbury Drive, who was found guilty of failing to comply with a notice issued by the council ordering him to install an ‘odour control device’ and fined £600.

One notorious example of planning blight is another house in Timberdine Avenue which Worcester Councillor Allah Ditta is trying to convert from a three-bed property into a mansion with six bedrooms, an underground pool and Jacuzzi.

Since planning permission was awarded in May 2013, the project has been so chaotic that at one point the council threatened to demolish the entire building within 48 hours after declaring it “unsafe”.

The council has since declared it safe after the necessary changes were made, and is keeping an eye on it.

The rear of the house had to be pulled down to comply with the demand.

Other examples highlighted by the council include a mystery businessman who launched his own fencing firm at his house in Skiddaw Close, near Windermere Drive without planning approval.

The council says he was "fabricating panels in the back garden", leading to complaints from neighbours, and he has since relocated to an industrial unit in the city, meaning no further action was needed.

Other examples include two garages in Lock Street, near Wyld's Lane, which vandals damaged, hurled rubbish in and even set fire to last year after they were left open.

Bed mattresses, tyres, food packets and other items were routinely dumped in them while the council desperately tried to track down the owners.

The fire damaged door was demolished and a fence ended up being erected to prevent further flytipping, with the owner eventually being traced who agreed to secure it.