A MUM and son from Cam say they feel ‘threatened and let-down’ by the council, after they were ordered to remove a shed they’d just bought from their garden.

Irene Clarke, 65, has lived in her bungalow in The Corriett since 2010, and previously lived in a council house in Wotton under Edge. She had rented a garage there from Stroud District Council for 25 years.

When Irene moved to Cam in 2010 she kept the garage in Wotton as she and her son Mark Peto, 34, were in need of the storage space.

The pair say the garage rent was paid in full monthly and they never missed a payment.

However, last year the council told the family that the Wotton garages were being demolished to make way for new houses.

So Irene and Mark were forced to move three cars out of the garage as well as a large collection of gardening tools.

There was not enough space to store the tools in Irene’s bungalow so Mark contacted SDC and informed them he would be placing a temporary shed worth £150 in the back garden, after consulting with neighbours.

Now though, the council has informed them that they need to get rid of the shed ‘immediately’.

A spokeswoman for SDC said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases but generally, we work with tenants to accommodate requests to erect sheds. Permission must be sought in advance, and sheds must be installed in line with the council’s requirements.

“Earlier this year a garage site in Wotton-under-Edge was sold with planning permission for much-needed housing at public auction.

“So far 37 former council garages have been sold, generating £435,000 which will go directly towards our new homes programme to provide affordable housing in the district.

“We have a stock of 5,000 council houses however there are currently over 3,000 households on the waiting list.”

However, Irene and Mark believe this is unfair because their neighbours have greenhouses which are bigger than their shed and the council has not complained.

“They took away our garage and gave us no other alternative,” said Mark, who worked at the former Lister’s factory in Dursley but is now unemployed.

“We had no choice but to buy a shed to store our tools and other things in, we had the garage for 25 years and then suddenly it was gone.

“Ever since I bought the shed we feel like we have been treated as criminals.

“We aren’t unreasonable people but we feel this is a mountain out of a mole-hill.” Over the last couple of weeks, officers from the council have been to the property to inform Irene that she needs to remove the shed.

“I had cancer in 2003 and this is causing me a lot of stress,” Irene, who is on benefits and suffers with mental health problems, told the Gazette.

“Recently two people (council officers) were in my back garden and I had no idea they were coming.

“I just don’t understand why it is an issue and they were really threatening.

“Our neighbours did not have a problem and Mark let the council know they were doing it so I don’t know what the problem is.”