Youngsters Rahul and Vishal Mehta were celebrating this week after their pirate ship treehouse was saved from the chop.

Council officers ruled the treehouse, in the back garden of a home in Goodwyn Avenue, Mill Hill, did not breach planning regulations. It was built for £2,000 by a professional carpenter earlier this year.

Complete with monkey bars, perspex windows, a cosy cabin and slide, it provided hours of fun for Rahul, six, and Vishal, four.

That was until council planning officers, acting on a complaint from a neighbour, decided it might breach planning guidelines and ordered the family to seek retrospective planning permission.

A thumbs down would have seen the family ordered to destroy their treehouse.

Kalpana Mehta whose husband Nitin helped conceive of and design the treehouse admitted her children were extremely relieved by the decision.

"They would have been devastated if the council had ruled against their pirate ship fortunately they have seen sense," said Mrs Mehta.

"We're all very pleased by the decision. It is not an eyesore and it's not an invasion of privacy for anyone it's a children's plaything. We have been very surprised by the reaction to this."

Barnet Council originally told the Times Group the application would come before the Hendon area planning sub-committee.

This week a spokesman said it had been dealt with by officers under delegated powers. "The treehouse has been given planning permission," he added.

November 20, 2001 11:35

MATTHEW NIXSON