Gareth Leek won the planning case after obtaining images from Google Earth showing the decking had been in his garden for more than four years unchallengedJonathon Hill News reporter and Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter
10:29, 23 Jun 2025
A photograph showing the completed decking at the house in Pontypool, Torfaen(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
A homeowner has been embroiled in a legal row with his local council over the size of his garden decking which was half a centimetre too high.
Gareth William Leek, from Pontypool, finally won permission to retain his garden decking this month after he was contacted by the council and informed he should have submitted a planning application for the size of the smart decking in his back garden – years after he’d built it.
Mr Leek told the council he was unaware the decking required any formal permission from the local authority when he built it in 2017 and he discovered when he looked further into the matter that the decking wasn’t even a centimetre over the threshold for a planning application to have to be submitted. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
Mr Leek won the planning case after obtaining images from Google Earth showing the decking had been in his garden for more than four years unchallenged meaning he should legally be allowed to keep it.
He also forwarded a letter to the council which was signed by his neighbour who was supportive of Mr Leek keeping the decking as it was and agreed Mr Leek had had the decking in place in the garden since at least 2019.
A planning hearing heard Mr Leek had retrospectively applied for a certificate of lawful development.
The decking is 4.84m wide and 3.82m long and is 0.83cm from ground level meaning it was just over half a centimetre over the height that requires planning approval.
Planning officer Simon Pritchard acknowledged the evidence presented by Mr Leek, which included a Google Earth aerial image from June 2018.
The application indicated the decking was finished in October 2017 and the neighbour confirmed its presence since at least 2019 when they arrived next-door at St Augustine Road.
Mr Pritchard said that the council had no contrary evidence or reason to doubt that the decking had not been “substantially completed for less than four years”.
Mr Pritchard’s report confirmed that the application is now immune from enforcement action, deemed lawful, and the department has issued the certificate.