Have you got planning permission for that wendy house, young miss?

It is made from wood, stands 7ft tall and entertains a little girl from the Shropshire border - but because of officials' "crazy" red tape it still needed planning permission.

The bijou wendy house measuring 6ft by 8ft was a birthday present for three-year-old Abigail Gent, who lives near Whitchurch.

But today her parents, Richard and Olivia Gent, of Bronington, said they were left scratching their heads after council officials ordered them to get planning permission for the structure, even though neighbours raised no objections.

Wrexham County Borough Council today said permission was required to ensure no additional development was carried out.

The couple said they initially built the wendy house in a paddock, which is part of their property, when they moved in about a year ago.

They said it stood there unchallenged for three months, then officials visiting another property nearby spotted the offending structure and sent the Gents a letter.

It told them to either move the wendy house from the paddock to their garden or apply for planning permission to keep it in the paddock, which they were advised would cost £169 and probably be refused as the paddock is classed as agricultural land, the couple said

Instead the Gents said they dismantled the wendy house and moved it to the garden, but still had to apply for planning permission and spend hours dealing with bureaucracy.

Mr Gent, a company director in London, said he was "puzzled" by the council's red tape.

He said: "I thought it was crazy and I couldn't understand the reasoning behind it. I really thought the world had gone mad.

"We thought the paddock seemed a sensible place to put it until someone from planning wrote saying we couldn't have it there.

"Technically the council are right and are only doing their job, but I cannot understand why in these austere times for the public sector officials are worrying about such a trifling thing as this."

A spokeswoman for the council said: "The reason planning permission was required was due to previous planning conditions when approval was granted for a barn conversion and a change of use of land for grazing of recreational horses.

"Due to the restricted application site and its relationship with adjoining properties it was considered important to ensure that no additional development is carried out without the permission of the Local Planning Authority.

"Permission for this structure was granted on March 8, 2011."