Fatima Yusuf has been told she must obtain planning permission to be able to continue running her bakery business from her Forest Gate home, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Fatima 'The Bakeress' at her home — Fatima ‘The Bakeress’ at her home (credit Fatima Yusuf)

A baker in Forest Gate has lost her bid to keep running her business from home after a dispute with Newham Council.

Fatima Yusuf appealed to the government’s Planning Inspectorate after the council told her to stop running her business – The Bakeress – from her home in Claremont Road without planning permission.

However, the Planning Inspectorate rejected her appeal, saying that the scale of her business was a “significant difference” to the use of the house as purely a residential home.

The inspector also said it had a “harmful effect” on neighbours’ living conditions “in terms of noise and disturbance”.

Fatima told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the dispute had been “a very difficult and upsetting process”. She said she is “currently taking advice and considering my next steps carefully”.

The council ordered Fatima to stop using her home as a bakery in a planning enforcement notice issued in August 2025.

Planning law means planning permission needs to be sought to change the use of a property, even if the building itself hasn’t been altered.

In her appeal, Fatima argued her bakery business was secondary to her use of the house as her family home.

However the planning inspector said that when he visited he found seven fridges at the house “two of which were large commercial style fridges”.

He also said that he found “large amounts” of baking and cleaning equipment.

The inspector also said the bank statements Fatima submitted with her appeal showed “extensive ‘money in’ transactions from different customers”.

His report said that while the statements showed approximately 15 sales in 2012, this had risen to “over 4,000 transactions in 2025”.

He said this suggested that “the bakery activities were a hobby that became a business over time” and that the baking was no longer “ancilliary” to the house’s primary use as a home.

Instead, the inspector ruled that the property now has a “mixed use as a bakery and a residential dwelling”, therefore requiring planning permission for a change of use.

The inspector said: “Whilst there are no physical alterations to the appeal property itself, the amount and type of equipment that is both within and outside the appeal property as well as the number of customers visiting the property, it is a significant difference in the character and a material change of use has occurred.”

The planning inspector ruled that planning permission should not be granted, as Newham planning policy restricts businesses from opening outside designated town centres.

He also said that “the number of customers visiting the property on a regular basis would create noise and traffic congetion through the parking of vehicles on the street”.

Fatima told the LDRS the appeal had been “a very difficult and upsetting process for me and mum” who lives with her.

She said: “While I respect the planning process, I am naturally disappointed by the outcome of the appeal. I do not believe the overall portrayal of the situation fully reflects the nature and scale of the activity involved.

“For now, my priority is simply supporting my mum and moving forward positively after what has been an extremely stressful and traumatic experience.”

Some of Fatima’s neighbours in Claremont Road told the LDRS that her business had caused no distburbance.

Natalie, who lives across the road, said: “My desk is upstairs overlooking the street and I can see very clearly.

“She’s a very small cake business. There is hardly any traffic that comes because of it. Even in her busy times you don’t even notice.”

Talha Kothia, who lives a few doors down, said he had “never, ever experienced a problem because of Fatima’s customers parking”.

However other neighbours said visiting customers had caused noise with frequent door knocking, and blocked driveways.

One, who lives close by, said he wanted Fatima’s business to do well, but: “It does disturb us – people do block our driveways. 4,000 customers a year is a lot and it adds up.”

David, who lives further down the road, said he had “seen big deliveries going in an out of that house” and “large numbers of people” arriving on weekends.

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