THURROCK’s planning committee went against officers who wanted them to put an enforcement notice on a loft conversion because the roof was 2cm too high.

The Gazette ran a story at the beginning of September describing how the planning committee spent over an hour debating the loft conversion in Silverwood Road, Stifford Clays.

The committee deferred the application and it came back to last Thursday’s meeting.

Ward councillor for Stifford Clays, Angie Gaywood spoke on behalf of resident Wendy Harris and called for “a common sense approach” to be used by councillors.

After 20 minutes of deliberation the committee voted to reject enforcement action, which would have meant Mrs Harris having to demolish the rear-dormer and rebuild the roof to make it exactly the same height as her neighbour’s houses.

After the meeting, Mrs Harris said: “I am very pleased and relieved.”