A plan to build a gym at a home in High Wycombe has been attacked by neighbours, including an elderly woman who was left “very upset”.

Buckinghamshire Council has refused to grant Mr Umer Zaman planning permission for his application to extend his property on Colville Road, build an outbuilding to house a gym, and install 1.8m high fencing.

The proposals would have been an “overly-bulky addition to the property” and “detrimentally harmful and out of keeping” with the “modest” semi-detached home, the council said.

Neighbours said the plan for ‘Redlands’ – which included a part single, part two storey rear extension – would further restrict their already-limited privacy due to the views afforded by the property’s converted loft.

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The next door neighbour, who is nearly 70 years old, said she was “very upset” about the application and that her “mental health was deteriorating”.

She claimed the proposals would “box her in” in her garden, that she would be “deprived of sunlight” and “only be able to see brick and concrete”.

Another woman who lives on the street said: “All my activities in my garden can now be observed from Redlands which has destroyed my privacy in my own garden.”

Another neighbour wrote: “We are two houses away from Redlands. We have a pergola in the back of our garden. The new top story rear extension is overlooking our pergola area and invades our privacy.”

A resident living next door echoed the privacy concerns, saying that the existing building “overlooks and has a clear view into our kitchen and dining area”.