A HOMEOWNER who pulled down an historic front garden wall has been ordered to rebuild it with the old bricks.

Southend Council’s development control committee voted to approve the enforcement order against a homeowner in Seaview Road, Leigh, on Wednesday evening.

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

The homeowner had pulled down the wall and submitted a bid to the council to replace it with a disabled parking space.

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The application was rejected last year, and now the homeowner must rebuild the wall – with the original bricks which have been kept stored in their home – or face legal action.

Leigh ward Lib Dem Councillor Carole Mulroney told a council meeting Wednesday evening: “These walls are what we call a ‘Leigh wall’.

“They are quite prevalent within various roads in the town but unfortunately not all are in conservation areas and we have lost quite a few other the years.”

She added: “They are very typical of the area, they are that scarp brick, which isn’t aesthetic in of itself but it does have a lot of character specific to the area.”

Conservative Prittlewell councillor Kevin Buck, one of two to vote against enforcement, said: “Two or three other houses either side have already removed their walls before it became a conservation area.

“To instruct this homeowner to build a wall that will sit on its own in isolation I think is a step too far.”

Independent Southchurch councillor Ian Shead argued the wall should be rebuilt as there “isn’t sufficient space for car parking there anyway”.

Complaints were first 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, the homeowner stated they wanted to form parking to the front of the site

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