A WELLINGTON couple are facing a £4,000 bill to remove new cladding from their home in Mantle Street and render the building - after paying out almost as much to have the property updated.

Kim Winter and her partner Robert Cummins, a former footballer with Wellington, believe they have transformed the front of their house - and have had many compliments from passers-by on the ‘new look’.

But one local resident has complained, stating they didn’t think the changes were in keeping with the rest of the street, even though the house is not listed. Kim takes up the story: “I’ve lived in the same house in Mantle Street for nearly 40 years. It’s not a listed building or is it in a conservation area. The lower half of the building has always been rendered while the top half is brickwork.

“A few years ago we noticed that during heavy rain and winds we had a few damp patches appear in one of our bedrooms. After seeking professional advice we were told we had problems with the brickwork which was causing the rain to penetrate through. Unfortunately, at the time, we could not afford to have the work done.

“We talked about our options and prices, then last year we noticed some of our windows needed replacing. We decided that we may as well have all the work done at the same time. We decided to paint the lower half and after much consideration looked into having the top half cladded, as this would solve the problem and also improve the look of the property.

“We spoke to Classy Glass and Phil told us if we went for Eco cladding it would allow the bricks to breath. So, after weeks of deciding on colours, as we wanted it to blend in colour-wise as best as possible with the surrounding properties, we decided on grey. The work was completed in April this year at a cost of, excluding the windows, around £3,000, and the transformation was amazing. We were so pleased with it. It had totally transformed the look. Phil had done an excellent professional job. We had so many compliments from passers-by and to those people, we thank you.

“A happy ending NO, as we received a letter last week from Taunton planning saying that one local resident had complained, stating that they didn’t think it was in keeping with the rest of the street. We were astounded – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I rang them immediately and was told that although our property was not listed, we are surrounded by listed properties, which is the problem.

“We should have applied for permission before the work was done as we were repairing and updating our home, and it not being listed, we never considered that planning would be needed. Our options are to apply for planning permission costing around £200 with architect drawings costing another £200-£300 and in their opinion it would likely be turned down, or we remove the cladding and render the brickwork.

To have the cladding removed, with scaffolding, get the brickwork treated and rendered and painted will cost about £4,000. That’s £1,000 more than we paid for it originally, making the whole costing around £7,000, and we end up with something that we don’t want.”