By GB News (World News) | Created at 2024-11-18 12:46:12 | Updated at 2024-11-24 20:24:05
6 days ago
GB News's Simon Evans has found himself at the centre of a "bizarre" council row after being denied planning permission for a driveway outside his own home.
Edinburgh Fringe favourite Evans had tried to build a one-car drive outside his house in Hove, East Sussex - but was slapped with a council veto because he lives in a Conservation Area.
To make matters worse, the Headliners host's home sits between two other near-identical properties which both boast the driveways - leaving him "astonished" as to why he can't have his own.
The whole ordeal "has been enormously stressful, expensive and frustrating", he told GB News.
Evans had built a dropped kerb driveway outside his home - but now, his council has retroactively clamped down
GB NEWS
The council's vision is 'based on a fantasy version of what the street might have looked like' 40 years ago, Evans fumed
SIMON EVANS
The council claims all the other homes had their drives installed before 1984, when Denmark Villas became a Conservation Area.
But Evans wants to install a car charging point - and can't help but wonder why he's still being told "no".
"It clearly flies in the face of the stated objectives of both the local authorities and the national Government - of which our MP Peter Kyle is a Cabinet Minister - that we should be making urgent progress towards Net Zero and switching to electric vehicles - something which is manifestly impractical without a domestic charging point," he told GB News.
And he told The Sun: "It's a joke really because a failure to move with the times is exactly what is holding back such environmental initiatives."
Evans has been left in planning limbo after the council vetoed his new driveway
GB NEWS
Evans said: "Being a comedian, I often return from gigs after midnight and not being able to find a parking space within half a mile of my home is miserable.
"All the houses around me have purpose-built driveways. It doesn't detract from the character of the road - in fact, it would make them look more uniform."
In his application statement, Brighton and Hove City Council planners said: "There are examples of similar arrangements along Denmark Villas.
"They all result in the loss of some of the front boundary walls in lieu of car parking.
'It clearly flies in the face of the stated objectives of both the local authorities and the national Government - of which our MP Peter Kyle is a Cabinet Minister,' Evans said
PA
"Regrettably, this loss of an historic architectural feature serves to demonstrate how incremental changes can erode the historic character of street scenes in Conservation Areas.
"The historic character of these properties has been severely impacted by these works."
But Labour councillor Alison Thomson supported him, saying: "We have to be able to make changes. I don't think this is, to my mind, significant harm... This is an incremental change that does no harm."
Now, the Evans family now need to decide whether to appeal the council's decision to the Secretary of State.
GB News has approached Brighton and Hove City Council for comment.
