Drone sighted over Vejle as municipality enforces garden house regulations

A soft hum from a drone hovering over a garden plot area in Vejle highlights the next phase of a conflict between Vejle Municipality and a group of garden plot owners. For years, this area has operated without enforcement of regulations regarding the size of garden houses. However, the municipality now intends to address this issue.

Many houses in the area exceed the allowed dimensions, prompting Vejle Municipality to deploy a drone to gather accurate measurements. They aim to determine how many houses are oversized and by how much.

Thorkild Bach owns one such house. Aware of its size issue when he purchased it in 2021, he believes he acted in good faith, given the municipality’s past inaction. “It’s like putting sweets in front of children and then telling them they can’t eat them,” he remarked.

In January, a new local plan was adopted that permits garden houses to be up to 50 square meters, with an additional 30 square meters for outbuildings. While this increases allowable sizes from previous regulations, many houses still exceed the new limits. The municipality estimates around 150 garden houses are clearly too large and may face demolition.

Approximately 400 houses may be granted approval, while others could seek exemptions. Nearly 200 garden house owners are now taking legal action to contest two local plans and have engaged an attorney. The drone has been instrumental in that effort, providing precise measurements of land and structures.

Amid community concerns over the potential demolitions, the chairwoman of Vejle’s technical committee argued that the municipality must enforce existing laws for safety reasons, particularly regarding fire hazards. Despite the ongoing dispute, the local government insists that the issue cannot be ignored simply because it has persisted for many years.