RESIDENTS ignoring a ban on modern alterations to houses in a Birmingham conservation area have been given official permission to carry on.

Council planners say that so many people are ignoring regulations prohibiting the use of UPVC windows and artificial roof tiles at the Bordesley Green Ideal Village that it is not worth trying to enforce the restrictions. Failure over the years to take action to protect the conservation area means that many of the 440 early-20th century workers’ homes have been altered beyond recognition, city planning committee chairman Peter Douglas Osborn admitted.

He said a decision not to enforce strict regulations banning the use of modern materials had been taken “with sadness”. Coun Douglas Osborn (Con Weoley) admitted that the council had done nothing for 14 years after the conservation area was approved in 1990 to prevent householders from making inappropriate alterations to their homes.

In 1999, the council withdrew an order banning artificial roof slates and UPVC windows.