A CONTROVERSIAL Lostock house that has been the subject of 13 separate planning applications took centre stage on national television — featuring in a documentary programme about property planning wrangles.

The Channel 4 programme, Damned Designs, was shown this evening and featured a number of sites across the country that have sparked planning rows, including the long-running saga of developer Dr Mohammed Sidda’s attempts to build a large house in Regent Road in Lostock.

Dubbed “The Ever Expanding House” on the TV show, the four-year story of the planning row was detailed through interviews with Bolton Council planning committee members Nick Peel and Bob Allen as well as Lostock Residents Association member Neil Atkinson and Dr Sidda’s daughter Nasima.

After plans to demolish a bungalow on the site and replace it with a larger property were approved, Dr Sidda was found to have built beyond that permission and, after a drawn-out battle involving various different applications coming before the council, the building was eventually demolished last year.

Dr Sidda has since had plans for a smaller property on the site approved.

Speaking on the Channel 4 programme about the size of the house that was initially built, Mr Atkinson said: “The house that was built was so much bigger than a six bedroom house next to it — you could fit the other one inside it. It was a real eyesore in Regent Road.”

He added: “During the 10-month period that this building was being put together, one of Bolton Council’s building control engineers made 11 visits to the site and didn’t realise it was the wrong size.”

Dr Sidda’s daughter Nasima explained that her father had suffered with serious health issues during the planning process.

She added: “He wasn’t able to give his time to the house and that is when things started going wrong — I think he was let down.”

Lostock councillor Bob Allen, who sits on the council’s planning committee, told the Channel 4 programme: “I have never known an application or a site that has caused this many problems and has gone on for so long.”

Fellow committee member Cllr Nick Peel said he was glad the issue was eventually dealt with when plans for a smaller house were approved last year, adding: “I hope it will not come back again and I hope that is the end of it.”