A YOUNGSTER with cerebral palsy today pleaded with council chiefs not to rip up her special rooftop garden after it said it breached planning rules.

Little Millie Landon has been playing in the unique fenced garden, which sits on top of a garage at her parents chip shop and home, since last summer.

But after her parents Linda and Bob were told they had to apply for planning permission, two residents in the 50-house street objected and councillors refused the application.

Now the couple, who paid £1,500 to create the play area for Millie, have six weeks to appeal.

If they are unsuccessful, the garden, which has a bench and chairs and a palm tree mural, will have to go.

Linda and Bob who run Bob's Chip Shop on Catlow Hall Street, Oswaldtwistle, built the garden at the back of their premises to give their daughter a safe place to play.

Three-year-old Millie cannot walk properly and the right-hand side of her body is not as strong as it should be.

She said today: "Don't let them take my garden away."

Mr and Mrs Landon said the roof garden was a sanctuary for Millie away from the dangers of the nearby main road.

Mrs Landon said: "I want her to be safe in the garden. It's doing nobody any harm. It's a very busy chip shop, and can be a bit unsafe for children. There's always bikes and cars outside. If she's playing in the area, then it's not safe.

"I can't concentrate on my job. I've got a nine-year old boy, George. He looks after Millie when he is home from school, but it's not fair to ask too much of him."

Mr Landon added: "Nothing looks bad about it. The fence has been made so you can't see into other people's gardens."

The family has started a petition to prove that locals are not against the garden.

Mr Landon said: "Nobody has had a real problem with it apart from one elderly lady. She called it Little Benidorm. But she died a week last Saturday."

The roof conversion cost around £1,500 and took five days to complete in July. They even converted a window into a doorway so Millie could easily step from their home straight into the garden.

Two months ago a letter arrived from Hyndburn Borough Council, saying the metre-high fence surrounding the garden needed planning permission.

The family applied for permission for the fence but at a later meeting it was denied after councillors heard there were two objections.

They now have six weeks to appeal and if they lose, the garden will have to go -- as it wouldn't be safe without a fence.

Brendan Lyons, head of planning for Hyndburn Borough Council, said: "There were two letters of objection complaining about loss of privacy and overlooking property.

"We have had one or two of these in the past and it is felt they are detrimental to the neighbours privacy. There was no information given to the committee about the personal circumstances of their child, and I can't say whether it would have influenced the decision or not."

Councillor George Griffiths, Conservative councillor for Oswaldtwistle, said: "I can only sympathise deeply with the parents. If the garden has contravened planning rules then it is unfortunate."

One of the neighbours who made a complaint to the council said: "It's an invasion of privacy. Bob built it before getting planning permission. Myself and probably five other people couldn't go in our gardens without him being able to lean down and see us."

But another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "I've never had a problem and they can't see into my garden at all."

It is the second time in as many months that councillors have ordered residents in the borough to dig up gardens.

Last month, Frank and Rosemary Jackson of Clayton-le-Moors were ordered to dig up their 'dream garden' which cost £15,000 and has taken more than a decade to create.

Council bosses said because the land it has been created on is partly green belt, it must be returned to its natural state.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope blasted the decision as "petty bureaucracy."