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Victoria Aldridge has been running her own childminding business from her current home for nine years. However, she claims a neighbour in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has sensationally threatened legal action over her firm, citing air pollution, noise and use of the home as a business as major problems.

Now Victoria, 47, said she has been informed the council’s official recommendation would be that she closes her business.

Speaking to Yorkshire Live, the entrepreneur said: “He wants me gone, but I don’t know why. For the first year [we had a good relationship] and then lockdown kicked in.

“I worked all the way through lockdown, I catered to nurses, police, rail workers, council workers – yes, there is noise, but he knew exactly who he was moving in next to. I’m known in the village, I’m known in the school but he’s chosen that he doesn’t want me here anymore.”

But Victoria had rented her home for six years before purchasing it in 2018, and was not aware she needed planning permission for her business. She claims her Early Years team had told her she would only need to apply for this if she had more than two employees.

And she received the initial complaint when she was in the process of applying for full planning permission.

Victoria added: “I’ve been at this house for nine years, childminding for 15 years and have been in the childcare business for 30 years.

“And as lockdown started to get back to normal, we got a noise complaint saying that the kids are too noisy in the garden, so I talked to my Early Years team and they said that every now and again people will complain.”

In a bid to tackle the noise complaint, Victoria said that she “did what she needed to do” and made sure that noise was kept to a minimum, instructing children not to scream or shout loudly in the garden and to not “kick footballs about”.

And she claims that the noise on her property is “less than one hour a day”, when the children return to her house after school before being picked up by their parents.

But Victoria received another complaint from the same neighbour in January this year. A planning investigator told her she had been reported for not having planning permission to operate her business on her property.

Victoria, who employed an assistant in 2018 and then employed a second in 2019, claims that she believed she would only need planning permission if she were to hire a third.

But she said that, after being informed of the planning breach, she set about trying to legitimise her business and has been “totally transparent”.

“You have to do pre-planning, so we’ve gone ahead and done that, given them all the information about who is coming and going, how many children are here at one time – we were totally transparent”, Victoria said.

“They came back and said it was fine, so I’ve applied for full planning but, in the meantime, the neighbours have sent a solicitor’s letters saying that I am in breach of covenants.

“I’m apparently in breach of covenants for running a business from my property, which six other people do [in the area].”

Victoria claims she was not aware of the covenants over her property, which expressly forbid her from running a business inside the house.

The business owner has another planning meeting booked and she claims that an officer told her their official recommendation, at this stage, is that she closes her business – due, in part, to the issue of traffic outside her house.

But Victoria has said that she may not be able to afford to live in her home if she loses her business and would find it very difficult to stay anyway.

She said: “If I did get shut down I’d not be able to stay here, because I couldn’t pass those kids every day it’d be too emotional.

“I’m living and breathing this every day, I can’t get away from it – what is going to happen? I’m in a constant state of anxiety.

“It’s hard enough to find childcare, especially one near the school and we don’t drive, we walk, we get compliments when I’ve got my little ‘crew’ as we call them: all in pairs walking down the street and everyone says good morning.

“But this has put such a spanner in the works, my confidence has hit the floor.”

Victoria said that in the nine years she has been operating from her current home, she has never had a complaint – nor have there been any accidents or incidents with the children, parents or cars.

She added: “They don’t see how vital I am to this village, I cater to over 25 families in this village so I’m not small fry, I don’t just have a dozen kids.

“I employ two ladies in the village, so their jobs are at risk as well and it’s not just a few hours, both of them are on 26-hour contracts.

“It’s just draining, I’ve hit the wall and I don’t know what to do next.”

Victoria has said that she plans to appeal if her planning application is refused.

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