A COUPLE from Chorleywood are being taken to court by Three Rivers District Council for refusing to demolish their new family home.

Ijaz and Uzmah Akhter of The Drive are frustrated that they have been ordered to tear down their house through no fault of their own.

The council is preparing to take the Akhters to magistrates court following the couple's decision to disregard an enforcement notice issued in January last year, after it was discovered the house had been built contrary to the plans approved in May 1997.

The foundations were built five feet higher than planned and the house is now said to dominate Valley Road, where neighbours say it has blighted their lives.

The Akhters, who have three children, aged 13, 11, and six, claim they were let down by an architect who assured them the house was built at the right level. The couple have since brought in a new architect.

Mr Akhter, 41, who owns a business in North Watford, said: 'The fact our house has been built higher than approved wasn't anything to do with us, yet we are the ones being punished.

'If it comes to the crunch we will demolish our home and build it five feet lower, but we are hoping we can prevent this by offering a solution that everyone is happy with.'

The Akhters lost an appeal against the enforcement notice last year, and chose to move into their new home. They were given time by the council to rectify the problem and submit new plans, and have since been exploring ways of altering the house.

Mr Akhter said: 'We moved in to the property because we were living in a flat and it was getting cramped. When we moved in we knew we could be moving out again.'

At the council's planning committee meeting on Thursday, April 13, members rejected an amended application and decided it was time to take legal action.

Planning committee chairman Mrs Ann Shaw said: 'We felt the altered design had not gone far enough. It was more a cosmetic change than anything else. We empathise with their situation but we can't be seen to be taking this lightly.'

While the council is preparing the court action, the Akhters can submit further amended applications to be considered by the planning committee.

The council has said that, if the Akhters continually fail to comply with the enforcement notice, it could keep taking them to court and could seek powers to destroy the building and recoup the expense.

The Akhters' new architect, Mr Martin Stent, said: 'The [Akhters] have not deliberately infringed planning control and I don't believe they should be made an example of just as a deterrent to people who do. They are very upset and feel nobody really wants to listen to them.'

He said the lowering of the house's foundations 'would achieve no real benefit for the neighbours'.