A FAMILY have been ordered to demolish dog kennels on the site of their Corringham home after they operated a business without the correct planning permission.

Thurrock Council’s planning committee reluctantly voted to issue an enforcement notice after hearing the family help to rehouse stray and abandoned dogs on behalf of the council’s contractor Gemini.

Lee Howeson, who spoke on behalf of the family at the meeting, said the kennels were no longer running as a business because of the trouble it had caused.

Neighbours had complained about the barking of the dogs and allegedly abusive language coming from staff at the property, in Fobbing Road, Corringham, between October 2010 and August 2011, during which time the kennels were operating as a business called Kynite Kennels.

The council said it holds no record of there being planning permission for kennels on the site.

Prior to 2010, the kennels, which have been at the property since 1974, had been used privately but in January 2011, the Howesons successfully applied for a dog boarding licence, coinciding with the unauthorised construction of a new dog kennel, with a capacity for 15 dogs.

Although ordering the kennels be demolished within three months, councillors encouraged the family to lodge a proper planning application.

Cllr Charlie Curtis said: “Why can’t we have a bit of coming together? “This man is doing something worthwhile, and yes the residents have to be considered, but there’s something sad about closing a kennels.”