Please help. Next door neighbour has a dog swimming pool business right next to our house

[lizzybennet]

Really need help with this. Our neighbours have a dog hydrotherapy swimming pool right next to our house. We have lived here for 11 years now and when we bought the house we were told the building next to our hedge was just a garage. The garage turned out to be a huge dog swimming pool and runs right down the side of our garden. With a grass area in front for customers dogs to run around in before their swim.

Over the years the business has grown to an unbearable level, with customers and dogs arriving at 8am till 9pm all week, weekends and bank holidays. Loud barking, people shouting at dogs, staff and customers discussing ailments, cars coming and going and this is seriously affecting our ability to enjoy our home as the noise is right next to our hedge and also our living room. We have spoken to the neighbour over the years asking her to change her hours and relocate the waiting area away from our hedge (she has lots of land on the other side of the pool) but each time she ignores us and carries on as before.

Finally we called the council as we just could not understand how they had been given permission in a residential area for a business of this nature and to cut a long story short the pool has no planning permission and the business has no planning permission either. However the council say they cannot do anything as the building has been there for more than 10 years! They have suggested environmental health for the noise side of things but that is it! Environmental health have been round and offered recording equipment when it's free but have also said it can take ages to get anywhere with these things and didn't fill me with much hope.

Can anyone advise with regards to a business of this nature having no actual permission? I thought there were exceptions for animals in particular dogs. I am worried about the lack of restriction on opening hours as we are frequently disturbed by customers with barking dogs at 9pm and 7 am in the morning and the noise is continual during the day. I'm not sure what to do next? Thank you

Canine hydrotherapy pools (which this is) almost certainly fall under the same categories as veterinary surgeries. Up until about 10 to 15 years ago these could operate a single consulting /treatment room from the practitioners houses without any planning restrictions. Those already in operation when the planning zoning changed obtained 'grandfather rights' to continue operating in this way without planning restriction on hours.
I own a veterinary surgery that operates under these grandfather rights and it can see patients 24/7. I also have a site where I moved premise 6 years ago and had to get planning and have my hours limited to 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday. I have a final site that has hospital permission and can operate 24/7.
Not certain this helps you.

Thanks, it does help as I was unaware of those planning rules and that may be why they just ignor our requests.

The problem is that had we known it was a hydrotherapy pool when we bought the house, we wouldn't have bought it. Over the years it's got so busy that we can't even let our own dogs out in the garden. We would like to resolve it in a friendly way but they don't want to know.

It's tough for you, but why should they?
Their business was operating there -legally it seems- before you moved in. It is their livelihood. It was up to you to do your research before you moved in. And if someone (the vendor?) pulled the wool over your eyes at the time I suspect it's probably a bit late to deal with that now.

Perhaps you should share your new love of feline opera
m.youtube.com/watch?v=3FAa-g_7PRM
Every day after 6 and at the weekends. You can't deny their right to run their business, but equally they cannot deny your love of cat opera and amusing cat related videos played on high volume from your living room.

That's the problem it wasn't operating legally. There was officially no business. It was a garage which they then put a pool into without planning permission and then a few "friends" popped round and then a few more there is no permission, no license it just grew. They put signs up outside which the council have made them remove. Maybe there is nothing we can do but it is so frustrating when it has appeared by stealth. Feline opera it is then

The best you can seem to hope for is a restriction regarding the business hours due to noise.

Could you put up a noise barrier fence?

Yes a noise barrier fence is an option. It would help if they would just talk with us. We're not trying to shut them down or anything just some consideration would be nice. Neighbour on the other side also has a business from home involving animals but they are brilliant and considerate and we have never been bothered by it. Thanks for suggestions.