COUNCIL planning can be a thankless task. Planners perform a vital function, protecting and enhancing the environment. When they get it right, few of us notice. If they make a mistake, the public is quick to criticise.

Sometimes they must negotiate a political and aesthetic minefield to reach a recommendation.

Coppergate II is a prime example: York planning officials carry a major share of the burden for getting the future of this historic site right.

Occasionally, however, planners become so bound up in their own highly regulated world that they indulge in the sort of bureaucratic nit-picking that demeans their professional name. That is what has happened to John and Maggie Briggs.

They live in a converted barn called The Hayloft. It occurred to them that instead of adorning the exterior of their home with the ubiquitous hanging baskets, hayracks decorated with flowers might be more in keeping.

This imaginative idea drew a bizarre response from Selby Council planners. Their report, recommending the display is torn down, describes it as resembling the "domestic trappings of a suburban housing estate". Residents of suburban estates, once they have recovered from being so rudely patronised, might struggle to recall a floral hayrack in neighbouring gardens.

The planners also attempt to lay down the law as to the tidiness of any toys or patio furniture in the Briggs' garden. This goes far beyond the council's duty to safeguard the shared environment. This is nothing less than intrusion.

Mr and Mrs Briggs have already won the support of an independent councillor in their struggle to escape this ridiculous red tape. We hope that other councillors lend their backing. Selby Council is done no favours by acting like a bureaucratic Big Brother.

Updated: 10:34 Tuesday, August 14, 2001