Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a business from home. I suspect that my neighbours (the ones with the noisy dog mentioned before) have made the complaint, as we recently informed them that they were in breach of the Party Wall Act with respect to the extension they are building, which didn't go down too well.
The good news is that the planning officer (very pleasant lady btw) happily confirmed that having a phone, desk, computer, and fax machine is perfectly ok as she could see from our website that this is just a local sales office, with the factory and toolroom being 25 miles up the road in Clacton, so the complaint has been closed almost as soon as it was opened. Having a lathe & mill in the garage for hobby use is no problem either apparently.
I suspect that the next avenue of tit-for-tat complaints from them will be excessive noise (although there isn't) when the machines are being run. Has anyone else had problems with neighbours complaining about their hobby workshop, from noise or other activities?
Peter