AN art and design teacher is battling with council planners over a homemade garage in his back garden.

Martin Reeves thought ordering a former shipping container off the internet for £1,400 using it as garage would be resourceful.

But he soon found he had fallen foul of Colchester Council building regulations - despite, he says, few neighbours having objections to the construction.

Mr Reeves, who is head of art and design at St Benedict’s Catholic College, Colchester, said: “There are 17 million unused shipping containers in the world.

“China is still making them brand new.

“People are living in them in other countries and using them for sustainable projects.

“I didn’t want to make it look like a shipping container, I just wanted it for its structural properties.”

Mr Reeves had the container delivered to his home in Salisbury Avenue, Colchester, in June last year.

Because it was metal and therefore non-combustible, he thought it would be perfectly acceptable to house his 27-year-old Volkswagen and another car alongside, acting as a car port.

The married dad-of-two said he even lowered the ground in a bid to reduce the impact of its height.

But at 2.59 metres tall at its highest point, it exceeded the allowed limit by 9 centimetres.

Eventually, on the advice of the council, he asked for retrospective planning permission but it was refused.

Mr Reeves, 40, said: “Neighbours to my right have all had the chance to object and it doesn’t bother them.

“I am friends with people over the back.”

Mr Reeves appealed the rejected planning application but a Government inspector sided with the council.

Planning inspector Claire Victory said in her decision the main issue was the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area.

She added that it would be “bulky and unattractive, and would be an incongruous feature within the street scene. It would thus appear visually intrusive when viewed from Wickham Road and neighbouring rear gardens.”

Mr Reeves added: “I was trying to build a building that was the biggest I could build, cover building regulations and would be sustainable.

“The concept is to deliver a sustainable building that used renewable energy to run devices in there “I am waiting to hear what the council says about it.

“What I build on there will be the same – it will be just 2.5metres in height.”

Colchester Council was asked to comment but declined.