16878A THIRTY-YEAR friendship has turned to war in a dispute over a garden shed. John and Norveen Wiltshire both 63, of Semington Road, Melksham, and next-door neighbour Beryl Chambers, 61, were best friends for three decades.

But their friendship turned sour 18 months ago when Mrs Chambers and her husband Bill Ash started to build a "shed", a two-room concrete structure, in full view of the Wiltshires' back garden.

Mr Wiltshire said: "She has gone from being a neighbour from heaven to being a neighbour from hell."

Planning permission was granted by councillors after a hot debate on Thursday, where a councillor described the neighbourly dispute as open warfare, but planning officer Rosie MacGregor stressed the structure was an outbuilding, not a shed.

The Wiltshires' have already spent £13,000 in legal fees on the fight and the pair believes their home of 37 years has been devalued by up to £20,000.

Despite the upset Mr Wiltshire said: "If it costs more than £100,000 we are not going to give up on this. As far as we are concerned this is life and death for us.

"Our garden is one of the best in Melksham. We spend thousands of pounds on it. My wife says it is our haven but now we have this terrible eyesore next to it."

The neighbours used to spend happy times having BBQs together.

Mrs Chambers had a key to the Wiltshires' house, used to feed the pets when they went on holiday and was Mrs Wiltshire's soul mate.

Now they never speak and Mr Wiltshire prefers to avoid his former friend by not going into the garden.

He believes the stress of the battle has brought him close to a nervous breakdown.

Mrs Wiltshire said: "John has become quite ill because of it and prefers not to go into the garden but I'm not going to let it stop me. It's my garden and I was here first.

"It has saddened me that someone so close could do this. She has made me hate her. I hate her for what this has done to my husband."

Their solicitor Alistair Everett argued at Thursday's meeting that Mrs Chambers had originally submitted misleading plans to West Wiltshire District Council, which suggested the building was a shed.

He said: "This is clearly not a shed. I've never seen a shed of this size. I've never seen a shed with patio doors. This is a building that is going to be used as an annexe to the main house and not as a garden structure."

Architect Paul Davies compared it to the Berlin Wall.

Mrs Chambers, 61, who volunteers in the Tourist Information Centre once a week, said she had been through the necessary planning measures and said: "This dispute is an absolute nonsense."

Cllr Christopher Newbury said: "It's very sad when neighbours get into this sort of open warfare. We can't transform this situation. We can't wave a magic wand over it."