A BOROUGH councillor is under investigation for an alleged breach of planning rules.
Kay Loch, who sits on the council’s planning committee, has been accused of changing the use of her house, Sandpipers in Ness, from domestic to business without planning permission.
But Cllr Loch told the Pioneer she has been running the company, Wirral Activity Toys, at the site in Neston Road for the past 13 years with the full support of the council.
She added the complaint was made by just a few villagers, who have not spoken to her directly about it.
A report to the planning committee says: “The alleged breach of planning control is a material change of use from a dwelling house to business use.
“A complaint was received on February 5, the nature of which is that a business is being operated relating to the sale and display of children’s activity toys.
“The complaint is in the form of a petition containing 16 names. There have been previous complaints of a similar nature at this property.”
The matter was discussed at the March planning meeting, where the update was noted and it was decided a further report should be prepared.
Cllr Loch, who represents Burton & Ness, told the Pioneer: “I have been running Wirral Activity Toys for 13 years now.
“We started in 1995 and the council planners said we could carry on the business here as long as there was no storage on site. We have been fully compliant with them throughout.
“The people who have made this complaint have never come to talk to us about it.
“I’m very disappointed they have taken this course of action without coming to discuss it with me first. If they’d done that, we could have resolved things to their satisfaction.
“It’s a huge waste of council time. Council officers have got enough on their plate, being under pressure with the council merger, Hooton crematorium plan and Neston town centre redevelopment, among other things.”
The Wirral Activity Toys website invites parents to visit Cllr Loch’s home to see the garden display of activity toys produced by some of the world’s leading manufacturers. The firm also donates toys to local schools to raffle off.
Cllr Loch is presently negotiating new joined-up footpaths at the estuary in Neston with the RSPB between Station Road in Burton and Burton Rock, and trying to get a cycleway along the estuary linking the Wirral Way with Chester.
