A bizarre row sparked after a neighbour accused an elderly lady of ‘spending hours’ tending to her new planter has ended up in court.
Robert Fair, 62, complained repeatedly after Jane Higgins, 75, had the planter installed in the front garden of her semi-detached home.
The pensioner spends her days looking after the plants, flowers and ornaments within it, so her family were shocked when they were told they needed to apply for retrospective planning permission for the structure.
Among the concerns raised by the sole objector, Fair, was that it overshadows their privacy ‘as the neighbour spends hours attending to their plants.’
But the row in Aberlady has now ended up in court, after Fair was fined for shouting a homophobic slur at Mrs Higgins’ son.
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The abusive comment towards Craig Newton-Higgins was made during an incident at the village’s The Pleasance in October last year.
Mr Newton-Higgins was leaving his mother’s address when he heard Fair call him ‘a queer’. He reported it to the police, and Fair was subsequently arrested and charged.
Fair appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and making an offensive remark towards Mr Newton-Higgins.
Fair, who has since moved to a new home, was fined a total of £210 for the offence. Speaking after the case, Craig, 55, said he was delighted that Fair had moved away since the incident after the bitter planning row.
Fair had claimed the construction of the planter ’caused disruption to street parking’ when it was installed in April last year and described it as a ‘hideous eyesore.’
He also argued it had become a ‘haven for cats who use it as a litter tray’ and that cats would ‘fight at night, causing excessive noise.’
Craig, Ms Higgins son, said: ‘I’m very relieved this is all over, and my mum can get back to being her old self. Since he has gone, she is very happy, and I’ve noticed a huge change in her for the better.
‘The abuse he gave me was pretty shocking, to be honest. I was just leaving my mum’s home when he shouted ‘queer’ at me. He is just a nasty person.’
Jane’s family had previously said they thought it was a joke when they were first told they needed planning consent. The garden planter is around 7m in length, 0.9m wide and 0.8m high and was built with timber planks.
Her family say she is in her garden in East Lothian, Scotland, every day and described the planter as ‘beautiful and very well tended.’
In its decision, a planning officer for East Lothian District Council wrote: ‘The raised planter is visible from the public road to the northwest, it is however only some 0.8m in height and is similar in its height and overall appearance to boundary enclosures which are present within the surrounding area.
‘The raised planter, whilst visible, is not therefore inappropriate to its garden setting and is not harmful to the character and appearance of the house or harmful to the character and appearance of the Aberlady Conservation Area.’
Craig said his mother was simply a retired widow who loves spending time in her front and back garden.
She has lived in the home for 20 years, is very community spirited and ‘just decided to get a planter’.
He added: ‘My mum gets along well with all the other neighbours. Everyone we spoke to finds it amusing, and just in utter disbelief.’
As part of the same application, permission was also granted for CCTV cameras at Jane’s home, which the neighbour had also complained about.