If your neighbour is building an extension too close to your property boundary, you have specific legal rights

Home extensions are a popular choice for homeowners looking to expand their living space. Yet these projects can frequently spark disagreements with neighbours, especially over how close the new build can be to the property line.

Under UK law, a neighbour has the right to construct right up to the boundary of your property, but they’re prohibited from crossing it, building over it, or allowing roof features such as guttering to overhang it. If an extension appears too near, your entitlements will hinge on boundary restrictions, planning rules, and party wall legislation.

There’s no universal minimum distance requirement for every property for a neighbour’s extension work. The requirements differ based on the extension type, its height, the effect on neighbouring properties, and whether it qualifies under permitted development or needs planning approval.

What are the rules on building near boundaries?

With Permitted Development Rights or Planning Permission, construction can take place as close as 50mm from your neighbour’s boundary, typically at no additional expense. However, if you wish to build directly on the boundary itself, a Party Wall Agreement becomes necessary, which usually demands your neighbour’s approval and may also require a surveyor’s involvement, particularly if your proposals impact any shared walls or structures, reports Wales Online.

Under permitted development regulations (which remain largely uniform across England and Wales for these particular measurements), an extension may be built near a boundary. However, if any part of it lies within two metres of the boundary line, the highest point of the eaves must not exceed three metres.

A single-storey rear extension has a maximum height restriction of four metres. Property owners typically have the right to build up to their property boundary. Under the Party Wall Act 1996, a neighbour may extend their structure right up to the boundary or even upon it, provided they adhere to the correct legal procedures. This usually involves serving a Party Wall Notice on the adjacent property owner at least two months prior to commencing any works.

If the extension involves excavation within three to six metres of your property, depending on the depth of the new foundations, you must receive notification. Should you object to the notice, both parties must appoint a surveyor to produce a “Party Wall Award,” which sets out how the works should proceed to reduce damage and disruption.

When constructing an extension, many homeowners seek to build as near to the edge as feasible to maximise space. Nevertheless, building regulations and local planning requirements usually establish a minimum setback distance.

In many locations, regulations stipulate a minimum distance of one metre between an extension’s edge and the boundary line. This requirement is primarily designed for fire prevention, stopping flames from spreading easily between properties, while also ensuring access for ongoing maintenance work.

What protections exist for light and privacy?

Among the most important legal safeguards for neighbours is the “Right to Light.” Should a new extension substantially diminish the natural light coming through your windows (particularly if you’ve benefited from that light for two decades or longer), you could have legitimate grounds for legal action.

This represents a civil issue distinct from planning consent. Even when a neighbour has secured council approval, they cannot lawfully breach your established right to light.

Privacy represents another key consideration. Planning authorities typically guard against “overlooking” by limiting windows on side walls or mandating the installation of obscured glazing. Should you believe an extension would compromise your privacy or cast excessive shadow over your garden, these concerns should be voiced during the planning submission stage.

When is professional guidance necessary?

If you’re worried about a neighbour’s construction proposals, the initial approach should be a direct conversation with them. Should that prove unproductive, seeking advice from a Party Wall surveyor or a solicitor who specialises in property law would be sensible.

Taking action promptly is vital. It’s far simpler to modify plans before building work commences than to pursue an injunction or compensation once the brickwork is already in place.

Footage shows several workers being approached by an individual who attacks them before leaving them on the ground.

Delivery drivers are being pushed off their bikes in sickening clips shared on TikTok. Multiple incidents, which appear to be in Glasgow, show delivery drivers being shoved off their bikes while innocently trying doing their jobs.

Footage shows a number of workers being approached by an individual who attacks them before leaving them on the ground. Glasgow Live reports the clips, filmed in various locations across the city, have been going viral.

The comments section is also flooded with vile remarks, including “more please” and “good man”. However the motivation for the ongoing attacks has not yet been made clear.

The clips emerge after our sister title told of Muhammad Jawad Yaqoob’s heartbreaking story. The delivery driver was attacked by a racist mob following an anti-immigration protest on Saturday, July 25.

The delivery driver has lived and legally worked in Glasgow for three years since moving from Kashmir. After arriving looking for a better future with his wife Hajra, they are now “scared to go outside”.

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He told Glasgow Live: “They abused and harassed me, and you can see in the video they hit me with a traffic cone… I went home, and then I saw the video is viral on different pages, and I was very scared.

“I’m very upset, I’m not going outside. Some people are not good in Scotland.

“I’ve lived here for three years, I know Scottish people are very nice people, but this happening insulted me. I am Asian. My [skin] colour is brown. But we are human beings. I paid my visa fee.”

Police Scotland has been approached for comment.

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Police have confirmed some details about the person who died

Police have provided an update after a fatal house fire. Emergency services were called to a house fire in Eagles Lane, Little Downham, at around 6pm on Friday (July 31).

A person was confirmed dead at the scene. Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed the casualty was a woman aged in her 60s.

A police spokesperson said: “There have been no arrests and the fire is believed to be non-suspicious.”

A Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson added: “Wearing breathing apparatus, firefighters used a hose reel to extinguish the fire and cleared the smoke using a positive pressure ventilation fan.

“Sadly, a casualty died at the scene. Crews returned to their stations by 8.15pm. The cause of the fire was accidental.”

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When academic research has explored the impact of school summer holidays, it has often focused on the costs to parents and to children’s learning and health.

The childcare juggle, the costs of summer holiday activities and the potential impact of losses in learning or more sedentary behaviour by children in the holidays do have a real impact on families.

But research on the summer break often does not reflect how children and young people feel about school holidays. Children’s rights to both education and health, laid out within the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, are widely known. There is perhaps less awareness that these UN rights also include children’s right to leisure, as our research has explored. Academically, we know very little about how children and young people experience school holidays as leisure time.

Our research set out how children and young people are often seen as in a process of “becoming”, and that their leisure is viewed as an extension of this: it should have a purpose in developing them as future healthy, educated citizens. Even play is seen not as an activity in itself but as a way to learn skills or increase physical health.

But if we see children as already “being”, not just “becoming”, then we can appreciate that their leisure time could also be the chance to rest and simply do what they want.

Holiday downsides

Undoubtedly, managing school breaks can be challenging for working parents. It is estimated that weekly holiday childcare ranges from £180 in Scotland to £224 in Wales, with a UK average of £191.

Beyond childcare, there has been increasing attention paid to the other costs of the school holiday. Children need to be fed and entertained over these breaks. In the context of a cost-of-living crisis, prices quickly add up.

The most significant political attention has been on holiday hunger: the food insecurity faced by families during breaks from school when free school meals cannot be accessed. Under pressure from charities and footballer Marcus Rashford, local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland have moved to provide food, vouchers or cash payments to families to ensure children do not go hungry during the holidays.

Research has raised concerns about learning loss over the summer break, particularly for poorer children. The focus of these studies has tended to be on literacy and numeracy, discounting other opportunities for development.

Concerns have also been raised about the impact of school holidays on children’s wellbeing. There is some evidence that during school holidays children are less physically active, more likely to gain weight, more sedentary, more likely to experience poor mental health and are a greater risk of harm.

Given these issues, it’s no wonder that questions have been raised over whether a term structure that is over 150 years old is still fit for purpose today.

The Welsh Government launched a consultation in 2023 on whether to shorten the summer break and redistribute holidays more evenly across the school year. Responses were divided and ultimately no changes were taken forward.

In the US, some jurisdictions have experimented with a more balanced school calendar with the long summer break (of up to 13 weeks) redistributed to shorter breaks spread more evenly throughout the year. Researchers examining the impact of this change have found mixed impacts on learning loss.

But it’s also important to consider how children feel about the summer holidays.

What do children think?

One of us (Susie Smillie) has worked with young people aged between ten and 18 to understand their experiences of school holiday leisure and its impact on wellbeing. This research found that school holidays were an important break from school work, but also, for some, from difficult relationships with teachers and peers.

School holidays were important to young people because they provided an opportunity for them to direct their own time. “You need to have a break, this is what…the holiday’s about,” a 15-year-old said.

They chose a broad range of activities beyond the sedentary screen time stereotype. These choices, often supported by trusted adults, was hugely valued, and allowed young people to experience enjoyment “being” in their present leisure choices rather than focusing on “becoming” for the future. “During holidays I’ll learn a lot more about stuff that I enjoy and I find interesting or stuff and that’s even helpful compared to in school, and it’s not like a stressful thing,” one said.

Local organisations were identified as an important asset in supporting young people too. In these spaces young people had the opportunity to participate in enjoyable activities. They also discussed being treated with respect, being involved in organisational decision making and developing their leadership skills.

These findings reinforce the point that while school holidays may see core curricular subjects like literacy and numeracy take a back seat for a few weeks, they provide opportunities for children and young people to flourish in other areas of their lives. This is just as important for their long-term wellbeing.

We are still learning about the impact of school holidays on families, particularly families from a diverse range of backgrounds. Very little is known about disabled children and young people’s experiences of these time periods, as well as children facing various socioeconomic challenges and care-experienced young people. Children, young people and their families from a variety of backgrounds must be at the centre of future research and policy decisions on school holiday experiences.

A banner attached to the campervan towed through Lauder said it offered “eye tests” while another joked the vehicle had been “parked round the side”.

Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell have been mocked by a campervan float at an historic Scots festival.

A motorhome was towed through Lauder last week as part of the Borders town’s annual Common Riding, complete with two locals dressed as the former first minister and her estranged husband.

A banner attached to the vehicle joked: “New campervan eye test here – approved alternative to the Barnard Castle eye test“, while another sign quipped the vehicle had previously been “parked round the side”.

The local dressed as Murrell was pictured showing off watches on his wrist, while two other participants on the float posed as police officers.

But despite the cheeky float grabbing attention from the gathered crowds and pictures being shared widely on social media, it only claimed third prize in the vehicle category of the festival’s annual fancy dress competition.

One of the organisers told the Record the float was “just a bit of fun to make people laugh” and insisted it was not meant as a political statement.

A campervan purchased by Murrell was one of the central pieces of evidence against the disgraced former SNP chief executive, who was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to embezzlement in May.

It followed a lengthy police investigation – Operation Branchform – into SNP finances.

The luxury motorhome was was bought by Murrell using £124,000 of cash he stole from the Nationalists.

Murrell, 61, pled guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh to embezzling more than £400,000 from his employers. He used the ill-gotten cash to buy a string of luxury goods, including cars, cosmetics, jewellery, gardening equipment and fountain pens.

The best-known of Murrell’s many purchases was the Niesmann and Bischoff motorhome in October 2020. It was bought in Dunfermline and later sat outside Murrell’s mother’s home in the Fife town.

The Record first reported how the campervan was supposedly earmarked for the SNP Holyrood election campaign in 2021 but was never deployed after Covid restrictions were lifted.

But the prosecution cast doubt on that explanation and said there was no evidence the vehicle was ever intended for political purposes.

Sturgeon has repeatedly denied all knowledge of her estranged husband’s offending. She claimed she was first made aware of the motorhome’s existence in 2023 after the home she shared with Murrell was searched by police.

Officers also searched the Fife home of Sturgeon’s mother-in-law and impounded the campervan on the same day.

The former SNP leader previously claimed in an interview she had never “consciously” saw the campervan as it was parked “round the side” of her mother-in-law’s house.

The fancy dress competition is one of several events that take place in a week of festivities in Lauderdale each year, the climax being a band of horse riders making a circuit of the boundaries of the Borders town.

NEW YORK (AP) — General manager Brian Cashman said the New York Yankees had conversations with the Detroit Tigers about Tarik Skubal and the Baltimore Orioles about Adley Rutschman but could not work out a deal before Monday’s trade deadline.

Instead, the Yankees found other ways to bolster their roster. They added outfielder Heliot Ramos from the last-place San Francisco Giants in a three-player swap, a day after acquiring left-handed-hitting Luis García Jr. from the Washington Nationals for four pitchers.

Skubal went to the Dodgers on Sunday in a blockbuster trade for three prospects and Rutschman was sent to the Red Sox for a package that included three of Boston’s top prospects earlier Monday.

“We had many conversation with Baltimore but were unable to obviously meet the price,” Cashman said in a video conference after the trade deadline passed. “So they did their business elsewhere and we kept grinding through it, but ultimately in the end of the day, there was no opportunity that existed that we felt good enough about to be able to push through on.”

The Yankees had less of a need for Skubal because their rotation began Monday with a 3.46 ERA, but their catchers entered the series opener against the Cardinals hitting .188 with eight homers and 27 RBIs, which ranked 28th among the 30 big league teams.

“We talked to Detroit,” Cashman said. “They set a high price and to be honest that was not something we were unable to get them off of what they said might work, but at the same time they were communicating that it also might not even win the day and then they kind of went silent, I think after they got what they were looking for.”

García was in the lineup at first base and batting third after hitting a career-high .283 in his first season as a full-time first baseman with Washington. He hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning of a 13-7 loss.

García’s average is the highest on the Yankees, who began Monday with a .232 average and hitting .219 in 53 games since losing captain Aaron Judge to an injury two months ago.

“I think it has been one of the keys to how the season has played out so far,” García said Monday through a translator. “Before I used to hit the ball very well, but a lot of the times it was on the ground. So I think one of the focuses was to get the ball in the air and keep hitting it with the same intensity, but lift it up, and better results have come.”

Besides the batting average, Garcia also joined the Yankees after hitting a career-high 23 homers and producing a career-best 78 RBIs. He was third in the big leagues with a .560 slugging percentage behind new teammate Ben Rice and Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez while also hitting .330 with runners in scoring position.

“As good a year as he’s having, leading the league in slugging percentage over there, we think there’s more in there potentially in our ballpark,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So it’s exciting. We needed to inject a presence in our order, and we think we’ve done that in a big way.”

García appeared in 93 games at first base with the Nationals and will share time with Rice and Paul Goldschmidt at first and as the designated hitter. García struggled defensively as a second baseman at times before moving over to first base full-time.

The 26-year-old García was born in New York and said his favorite Yankees growing up were Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. His father, Luis García Sr., appeared in eight games with the Tigers in 1999 and spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues from 1993 to 2002.

The Yankees needed another outfielder after losing Cody Bellinger to a strained left hamstring July 25, and Ramos batted .264 with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 74 games for the Giants. He also had an .835 OPS against left-handed pitching and slugged 43 homers in the previous two seasons.

Ramos will likely join the Yankees on Tuesday, and touted shortstop prospect George Lombard Jr. is expected to be promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Following their loss Monday night, the Yankees optioned outfielder Jasson Domínguez, shortstop Anthony Volpe and reliever Angel Chivilli to Triple-A.

The Yankees sent starting pitcher Henry LaLane and infielder Kaeden Kent to the Giants for Ramos, who is not eligible for free agency until 2030.

“They have a lot of history,” Ramos said. “It’s obviously going to have a big place in my heart, but at the end of the day, I’m very happy to be a New York Yankee.”

LaLane was recently promoted to Class A Hudson Valley and was New York’s fifth-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Kent, the son of recently inducted Hall of Famer Jeff Kent, was batting .302 this season at Hudson Valley.

New York is 27-27 since Judge last played May 31. The slugger is still awaiting another scan to determine when he can start baseball activities.

“It’s always possible that things don’t go the way you want, but we currently are still very optimistic he’s going to return,” Cashman said.

The Yankees have been without Giancarlo Stanton since April 24 due to a strained right calf and lost Bellinger for four to six weeks when he was injured in Philadelphia.

“One of the first areas of need was to try and upgrade the offense in any way, shape or form in any way we can while waiting for important players to come back at the same time off the IL,” Cashman said.

To make room for García, the Yankees optioned Max Schuemann to Triple-A. New York also recalled reliever Kervin Castro to take the spot of Yovanny Cruz, who was sent to Washington for García.

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AP Freelance Reporter Jeff Miller contributed to this report

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Megan McKenna has revealed she made the decision to move to Germany full time after her UK home was broken into by machete-wielding intruders.

The former TOWIE star, 33, split her time between the UK and Germany after she started dating her footballer husband Olivier Burke in 2023. Oliver previously played for German team Werder Bremen before signing with Union Berlin last year.

Megan, who shares son Landon, 22 months, with Oliver, has now revealed she decided to relocate permanently to Germany after a traumatic burglary at her UK home two years ago.  

Speaking on the Great Company With Jamie Laing podcast, she said: ‘I don’t talk about this with a lot of people because I was worried and scared at the time because people were in prison for it, and when there was a trial going on, so I wasn’t able to talk about it.’

‘I was robbed really badly in my own home. It scared me so much to be in the UK and to live in the UK on my own, because obviously Ollie’s in Germany.’

She explained how after a holiday together Oliver had to return to Germany, leaving Megan alone in her UK home with her dog. She fell asleep around 11pm and then woke to find the house ‘shaking’.

The former TOWIE star split her time between the UK and Germany after she started dating her footballer husband Olivier Burke in 2023, with whom she shares son Landon

She said: ‘I was such a disorientated mess. I was like, “What?” And then I just knew that it was happening to me, and I was like, “Oh my God”.’

‘I get goose pimples now thinking about it. They were inside my house, but I lock my bedroom door every night because I always worry about something happening to me when I’m on my own.’

‘The next thing I know, my mirror has come off my wall, and they’re hacking a hole through my wall with a baseball bat. They’re three masked men with machetes and baseball bats, and they managed to hack a hole in my wall because it was a fake wall going onto my dressing room, linked to my bedroom.’

Megan explained how she called the police and they arrived at her house within minutes. ‘It was the longest seven minutes I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, and the police were saying to me “Don’t speak to them.”‘

‘I said, “I can hear they’ve got weapons. They’re hacking my wall down,” and they were like, “We’re on our way.”  And I was like, “No, they’re hacking my wall down.” And they were like, “Please don’t talk to them.”

Megan defied the police and said she told them ‘if I don’t go and talk to them and ask them what they want, they’re going to come in and kill my dog.’ 

Adding that she was naked at the time and had cut her foot so there was ‘blood everywhere’, she then approached the men and he took her jewellery.

She told the podcast that her home was ‘obviously targeted’.

‘I was robbed really badly in my own home. It scared me so much to be in the UK and to live in the UK on my own, because Ollie’s in Germany,’ she said. The family currently live in Berlin

She added: ‘I was like, “I’m not safe in my own home.” The police were amazing at the time, but I was then going through IVF to have [her son] Landon, and they wanted me to go on trial.

‘And I just said to them, like, I actually can’t physically do that. Go through it. They got caught, and then they went on trial, and and then a year later, they just got let out. They’re just roaming the roads.’

Back in 2017 whilst she was starring on TOWIE Megan was left ‘totally traumatised’ after having her first home burgled. 

She returned from a night out at popular Essex venue Faces to find her flat ransacked by thieves who stole thousands of pounds worth of jewellery, designer handbags and sunglasses as well as sentimental items. 

It was said at the time that Megan feared thieves found out where she lived after watching TOWIE, where she often filmed scenes at home.

Megan has now quit reality TV and is pursuing a music career as well as working as a content creator from her Berlin home.  

The broadcaster duo will run the half marathon on September 13 in support of Prostate Cancer UK.

Chris Kamara’s son Jack will also take part.

Why are Chris Kamara and Ben Shephard taking on the Great North Run?

Chris Kamara, former Sky Sports presenter and long-time ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK, said: “I’ve been working with Prostate Cancer UK for more than a decade now and have met so many men and their loved ones affected by this disease.

“Walking side by side with them was heartbreaking and inspirational, but an education too.

“I’m still stunned by the stats. “Prostate cancer affects 1 in 8 men, but if you are black, like me, its double the risk.

“But this disease is treatable if you catch it early.”

He said he was “getting the band together” for the run, teaming up once again with his “old mucker” Ben Shephard, who co-hosted Goals on Sunday with him.

Mr Kamara said: “I think the couch we used to sit on was far more comfortable than a 13.1 mile Sunday morning run in the North East, but I know we will keep each other going – and if that fails my son will drag us both along.”

The broadcaster last completed the Great North Run 26 years ago.

He said: “That time round, the great Sir Brendan Foster applauded me for getting home in just under one hour 30 minutes.”

Mr Kamara now lives with apraxia of speech and dyspraxia.

He joked: “I’ve got a few problems with my balance these days so I hope it might be double that this time. But whatever happens I’ll get round.”

He said: “As a North East native, I have always wanted to take on the Great North Run again after I was lucky enough to run it 26 years ago.”

He said: “What I do know is that it’s an incredible event with passionate fans packing the streets.

“I look forward to seeing you all in September and look forward to some ‘unbelievable’ support.”

Ben Shephard, known for presenting This Morning and Tipping Point, said he “jumped at the chance” to join Mr Kamara for the run.

Mr Shephard said: “He’s such a brilliant guy, and we’ve been mates for many years now.

“It’s going to be a real thrill to run alongside him and Jack at such an iconic event.”

The cause is close to his heart, as his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He said: “I know all too well about the dangers of prostate cancer.

“It’s a disease that’s affected my family, and so many others too.”

The group will take on the AJ Bell Great North Run as “Team Kammy” to raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK.

Mr Kamara has previously supported Prostate Cancer UK by joining Jeff Stelling’s Football Marches.

Prostate Cancer UK says one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The risk increases if you are over 50, black, or have a family history of the disease.

Have you ever taken part in the Great North Run? Let us know in the comments.