A PROPERTY developer who ‘hid’ a house in her garage near Worcester without planning permission has returned it to its original use.

Carol Jones of Crown East Lane, Lower Broadheath, built the house under the guise of a garage/ workshop in her garden but has since carried out work to comply with a council enforcement notice.

In October she was given six months to turn it back into a garage after the planning inspectorate dismissed her appeal against the notice issued by Malvern Hills District Council.

Councillor Tony Penn, the district council’s portfolio holder for planning and housing, confirmed the enforcement notice had been complied with and all the fixtures in the two bathrooms and kitchen, and the internal partition wall preventing it from being used as a garage had been removed.

Coun Penn added: “The building is now in use as a garage, in accordance with the original planning permission.”

During the inquiry, held in the summer, inspector Jane Stiles heard how Mrs Jones was granted permission to build a detached house and garage on the site in 2006.

However, inside the ‘shell’ of the garage she created another home in which she lived for about two years, followed by two paying tenants.

She later applied to use the garage building as a home but it was refused by the district council.

It was also ruled that Mrs Jones, who represented herself at the inquiry, had to pay the council’s costs.