Simon Evans has been embroiled in a driveway planning row (Image: GB News)
star Simon Evans is embroiled in a strange dispute with local council authorities after his application for a driveway was rejected.
Evans, known for his appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe, had hoped to add a single-car driveway outside his Hove home in East Sussex. However, the council denied his request, citing the property’s location within a Conservation Area.
The situation has left Evans baffled, especially since his house sits between two nearly identical properties that both have driveways. He expressed his frustration with the decision, calling the entire ordeal “stressful, expensive, and frustrating”.
: “Though the one upside is the overwhelming support we’ve had from our neighbours.”
Evans was granted approval by Brighton and Hove City Council for a dropped kerb, which was built according to their specifications. However, when he sought retrospective approval to remove his front wall, the council’s Conservation team objected.
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Simon has been left fuming (Image: GB News)
He continued: “The council’s justification for denying permission seems to us to be incoherent and based on a fantasy version of what the street might have looked like if the conservation measures hadn’t been imposed after virtually all the planning horses had bolted.”
The council argues that all the driveways in the area were installed before 1984, when Denmark Villas was designated a Conservation Area. However, Evans, who is looking to install a car charging point, is left confused and frustrated by the council’s continued refusal, questioning why his request is still being denied.
“It clearly flies in the face of the stated objectives of both the local authorities and the national Government – of which our MP Peter Kyle is a Cabinet Minister – that we should be making urgent progress towards Net Zero and switching to electric vehicles – something which is manifestly impractical without a domestic charging point,” he told GB News.
And he told The Sun: “It’s a joke really because a failure to move with the times is exactly what is holding back such environmental initiatives.”
Evans said: “Being a comedian, I often return from gigs after midnight and not being able to find a parking space within half a mile of my home is miserable. All the houses around me have purpose-built driveways. It doesn’t detract from the character of the road – in fact, it would make them look more uniform.”
In his application statement, Brighton and Hove City Council planners said: “There are examples of similar arrangements along Denmark Villas.
“They all result in the loss of some of the front boundary walls in lieu of car parking. Regrettably, this loss of an historic architectural feature serves to demonstrate how incremental changes can erode the historic character of street scenes in Conservation Areas. The historic character of these properties has been severely impacted by these works.”
Labour councillor Alison Thomson supported him, saying: “We have to be able to make changes. I don’t think this is, to my mind, significant harm… This is an incremental change that does no harm.”