A DRUM teacher who was told to stop giving lessons by Oxford City Council is hoping to start playing again soon.

After neighbours in Freelands Road, East Oxford, complained, drum tutor Darren Hasson-Davis was ordered to stop teaching youngsters in his garden shed, or face enforcement action.

Now he has lodged an application to allow lessons to resume. And the city council has allowed him to continue using the shed for lessons while his application is considered.

He said: “What I want to do now is to move on from all the things that have been said and draw a line under this.

“I have had 16 letters of support from my neighbours, including a direct neighbour.

“If I thought it wasn’t possible to continue drumming and I thought I really was making people’s lives a misery, I wouldn’t have applied for permission. I have been trying my hardest to work with everyone.”

Mr Hasson-Davis, who has now applied for retrospective planning permission, said he was prepared to consider putting extra sound-proofing on the shed.

He was given planning permission to put up the back garden shed last year, but planners said it could only be used for pastimes “incidental” to his use of the house.

Officers said that did not include drumming lessons.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail in December, neighbour David Gardner said: “I can hear it through my double-glazing.

“All I am asking for is peace and quiet.”

But another neighbour, Hermione Mowat, felt the music was not a problem.

She said: “It is good for youngsters’ self-esteem to have these opportunities available to them.”

Mr Hasson-Davis has been teaching youngsters the drums for 10 years.

He teaches 30 children at schools in Oxford and used to run classes at home, four days a week, usually until 7pm.

A date for a decision by the city council has not yet been set.