A LEADING dog breeder whose dogs have been shown at Cruft’s has been told she can keep the kennels she hastily had built without planning permission.

Becky Swainston has successfully bred and shown Dogue de Bordeaux – a large French mastiff breed – for about 21 years.

When she moved from the Sunderland area to Wingate, in County Durham, last year she quickly had some stable-type kennels and fenced pens built on land behind her house in Station Town.

However, as they were erected without planning permission she had to seek retrospective consent from Durham County Council to keep the buildings.

At a meeting of the area planning committee (central and east) last Thursday, she apologised for building the kennels last December before seeking planning permission but said she’d do it again for the sake of her beloved animals.

Ms Swainston, who said her kennel was considered one of the world's most successful for the breed, told members: “We have had our dogs so long they are part of our life, I know we upset a lot of neighbours by building the stables but we had no choice.

“We moved with 11 dogs from Sunderland to Durham, I had to house them, had to find a home for them.

“This I would do again because it was a welfare issue.”

She said consideration was given to the neighbours when building the kennels, choosing stables so they “would not look bad” and locating them “out of the way” to minimise the impact on neighbours.

She said: “You cannot see the pens, the nearest neighbour would have to be right at the bottom of their gardens looking over the fence to even see the stables, you cannot even see the dog pens.”

Ms Swainston said her dogs, of which there are currently 11, produce a total of two litters a year to “better the breed”, replace her own pets and sell surplus puppies to pay for their upkeep.

She said they are well behaved and have lots of space so rarely bark, and if they do something is wrong and she is "there like a flash” to deal with it.

“I have a great amount of respect for my neighbours, I don’t want to upset anyone, I want to walk out of my drive and smile at people,” she said.

Members heard the council received seven letters of objection from neighbours and two letters from Hutton Henry Parish Council raising concerns about noise from the animals having a detrimental impact on neighbouring residents and during funerals at a nearby cemetery. They also complained about the access road, between houses at Hillcrest and Rose Cottages, and confused visitors knocking on the doors of nearby houses looking for the kennels.

Seven letters of support backed the application, from people saying they did not see any problems, that the applicant was professional and has integrity and that the dogs appeared happy and healthy.

Planning officer Lisa Morina told members that, whilst it was disappointing that use of the site commenced without planning permission, it was an acceptable development.

She added: “Whilst the objections and concerns raised by residents and the parish council have been taken into account and addressed within the report. However, on balance, and taking into consideration all material planning considerations the concerns raised were not felt to be of sufficient weight to justify refusal of this application.”

Members unanimously approved the application.

 

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

 

 

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

 

 

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054