A KIRKBY Lonsdale couple has been given a matter of months to remove an addition to their garden described by one councillor as "offensive."

Following a fashion set by television gardening programmes, Mr and Mrs Kirk of Fairgarth Drive decided to dabble in decking.

But the prominent timber framed garden feature was frowned upon by South Lakeland District Council planners, who refused retrospective planning permission and ordered the decking be removed.

Flookburgh councillor Jack Manning declared the decking "offensive" and said it was "too big" and overlooked other properties.

Coun Paul Braithwaite called the garden addition "just too much."

Neighbours also submitted three letters of objection, arguing the decking was "visually unacceptable" and allowed neighbouring properties to be overlooked. However, some councillors who had been on a site visit to the garden argued the feature would be acceptable once plants had crept up the trellis-work.

But councillors ignored planning officer Barry Jackson's recommend-ation to approve the 12 x 2.7-metre back garden addition.

Mr Jackson said he had spoken to Mrs Kirk who declined to speak to the Gazette and the couple had the right to appeal against the decision but as yet he did not know if they were going to challenge the decision.

Horticultural authority and chairman of Cumbria Tourist Board Eric Robson who recently made national headlines when he said some green-fingered TV shows were "giving gardening a bad name" said he believed decking had got out of hand.

Declaring he did not want to be seen as a "Stalinist gardening Tsar", he said: "My own view of decking is that we have gone too far. We are fashioning gardens with all sorts of hardware and forgetting about the plants.

"Things have just gone too far down the hard landscaping route we need to see gardens soften up a bit. We want gardening to celebrate plantmanship, not something we buy at B&Q.

"Decking is also not a terribly bright idea with our weather it becomes very slippery!"