PLANNING inspectors have overturned a Wiltshire Council decision to reject a bid to place a 20-foot shipping container in a Bradford on Avon garden.

Mr and Mrs Humpage applied for permission to install the container in their garden at 114 Downs View but planning officers kicked the idea into the long grass.

It was proposed by the couple that the shipping container would be used for domestic storage.

Council planning officers turned the bid down citing that it was too tall and was too close to the residential boundary. However, the planning inspector reversed the decision.

They said: “The Council takes the view that when taking into account the natural land levels, the container would measure 2.6m high and therefore the proposal would not have been lawful at the time of the application.

“The appellant argues that although the proposed container is 2.59m in height, to ensure that the structure would not exceed 2.5m in height, it would be dug into the ground.”

The inspector added that when factoring in height, the measurements must be taken at the highest ground level immediately adjacent to the building, enclosure or container at its highest point.

As the ground at 114 Downs View slopes gently and it was argued that the maximum height would be 2.47m.

In their conclusion, the inspector said that the council’s refusal was “not well founded” and granted the certificate of lawfulness to the plans.