Chrissy has another Planning Success!!! The appeal scheme sought the retention of a domestic outbuilding at the far end garden of a semi-detached dwelling in Rochdale, abutting a neighbour’s garden.
The application was refused on the basis that the outbuilding resulted in an unacceptable loss of light, outlook and had an overbearing impact on rear ground floor windows and the rear garden of the neighbouring dwelling. The Council’s delegation report referred to the 10m separation distance contained within its Design Guide and that the outbuilding would not meet the separation distance given it was only 7.2m away from the neighbours primary ground floor windows contained within an extension and that the development exacerbated an already dark garden.
Chrissy made the case that the 10m distance of the Council’s Design Guide is guidance and in this case the position and height of the outbuilding is such that a 25 degree line taken from the neighbouring dwelling’s rear windows (measured 2m above the ground as per the BRE guidelines) clears the outbuilding. This indicates that adequate light does still reach the neighbouring windows and the rear garden. In any event the north-western facing nature of the neighbour’s garden means that the dwelling itself blocks sunlight to the garden with the appeal outbuilding not having a significant impact. Similarly, outlook is not harmed given the outbuilding’s limited height.
The Inspector accepted these arguments and commented that the outbuilding does not prevent the enjoyment of the garden nor harm the living conditions of the dwelling. The appeal was allowed with no conditions attached. Hooray!
Obviously, this is only a small scheme but it means a lot to the client, as the next step for the Council would probably have been an Enforcement Notice to secure the removal of the building or, more likely, requiring it to be amended to a flat roof to make it no higher than what would have been achievable as permitted development. The Council applied the 10m distance as an absolute minimum standard rather than guidance to be considered carefully in relation to the full details of the case and factors on the ground.
When the client was advised of the successful appeal decision he explained that the decision had taken away so much stress away from him and given him the best news possible and he gave us a lovely review.
Our outhouse planning refusal was undertook by Chrissy from Planning House she has done an amazing job we can’t Thank her enough. We honestly thought that’s it until we had a letter through the post by Planning House saying they saw a scope in our planning application refusal. We heard the main points she set out which we got convinced by that she’s the one. She made a really thorough appeal statement outlining the main points and which addressed and undermined the council’s case. She kept us informed of progress throughout the process. She was reasonably priced too. We Highly recommend her she definitely knows exactly what she’s doing and is well knowledgeable. Thank you, Chrissy.
Muhammad Ibraheem, Rochdale
>> Click here to view Muhammad’s review on our Google Profile page.
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