大象传媒

Series looking at building planning processes.

Planning permission isn't needed to put a shed at the end of a garden, but if it has a bathroom and a bed in it, it's a different matter. In North London the death knell sounds for an unlawful building, as the council decides they've had enough and it's time for direct action - much to the owning family's distress. Will the head of enforcement, Tim Rolt, be swayed by their sit-in protest and give the building a reprieve, or will he make sure it's demolished there and then?

A few miles away, another enforcement officer, John Ayres, is busy. Not only is he in hot pursuit of a disappearing developer who is flouting planning laws, but he's also investigating complaints about an outbuilding that's being used as a home. Ayres thought he'd seen it all before, but even he's shocked by the living conditions of a woman and her child, and calls in reinforcements.

In Essex, an elderly couple fight their neighbours' extension plans, fearing that they will put them in the shade.