HOME extensions built without planning permission must be torn down, councillors have ruled as they reject a compromise offered by the owners.

An application to retain extensions up to two storeys in height at the back of both properties in Ashton Street, and a single-storey extension to the side of one of them, has been refused permission by the planning committee.

The Rumworth residents previously presented a proposal to keep the extensions after they were issued with an enforcement notice by Bolton Council –  but it was refused by the town hall and dismissed at an appeal.

Their latest bid, which involved knocking down some of the extension, was put before the planning committee for a final decision on Thursday at the request of ward councillor Shamim Abdullah as planners were poised to reject it.

Mohammed Patel, the man behind the plans, told councillors at the virtual meeting he was trying to come to an “amicable” conclusion with the council.

He said: “I think there was a lot of miscommunication between the builders and myself. At the end, a lot of it was done with my father because I was off sick at the time as well. And that’s the way it’s ended up the way it has.

“If I could turn it all back around and have it exactly the way I wanted, I would do that in a heartbeat because it’s been so stressful – the amount of money and time. If I could, I’d turn it all back.”

Mr Patel presented a signed statement from neighbours who said they did not have an issue with the parts of the extension he proposed to keep in place.

But Cllr Roger Hayes said future residents may not agree.

He said: “It’s very often that existing residents are persuaded to say that they don’t have a problem with a particular application.

“But we should go beyond that. We should look at the potential future residents and the impact it would have on them.”

Cllr Anna-Marie Watters supported his suggestion to refuse permission.

She said: “If this planning application was presented to us today, had it not been carried out, would we give it approval? I have to say, the answer would be no. The answer would be to refuse.”

The planning committee voted unanimously to refuse permission for the application. The applicant now has six months to appeal the decision.