A HOMEOWNER is set to be ordered to rebuild a front garden wall that was pulled down to make way for parking.

If enforcement action is approved next week, Southend Council will tell the owner of Seaview Road, Leigh, that if they do not comply with the order they could face legal action.

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The road consists of homes built in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, with low brick boundary walls to the front of properties. 

These walls are considered by the council to form part of the character and setting of the street scene in Seaview Road.

According to council documents, the front garden wall outside number 28 - which dates back to the early 1900s - was pulled down by the homeowner at the start of last year without permission from the council.

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The building lies within the Leigh Cliffs Conservation Area which restricts permitted development for properties. 

Complaints were made to the council in March last year about the wall being removed.

The homeowner initially argued the removal of the wall had been necessary as it had become unstable.

When the council asked for the original boundary wall to be reinstalled, knowing the homeowner still possessed the original bricks, they stated they wanted to form parking to the front of the site, the council documents claim.

An official application to set up parking on the site was rejected by the council’s planning committee on January 27.

Leigh Lib Dem councillor Peter Wexham said: “It’s important to protect homes in the conservation area.

“So many of those buildings have important historic elements that need to be protected.”

Southend Council has since reiterated the original wall needs to be restored and warned it is willing to pursue legal action if necessary.

The council documents say: “Given the significant harm identified above in respect of the loss of the front boundary wall, it is reasonable, expedient and in the public interest to pursue enforcement and/or legal action in the circumstances of this case.

“Given that the materials of the original wall have been kept by the property owner, enforcement action in this case can reasonably aim to secure the re-instatement of the original boundary wall (with the same materials) which is the condition of the land before the breach of planning control took place.

“Staff consider that taking enforcement action is proportionate and justified in the circumstances of and that an enforcement notice should be served.”