Hillingdon Council has some very restrictive planning policies relating to homeowner extensions (especially policy DMHD 1 of the Local Plan Part 2) and applies them rigorously, sometimes – in our view, at least – unfairly refusing good schemes.
In this case, the applicant wanted to extend his home by way of a first-floor rear extension.
The extension was small in scale – it had limited depth, width and a low overall height. It was also designed with a sympathetic hipped roof.
The council didn’t like it partly because they did not like other extensions that had already been built at the house using permitted development rights.
It seems to us that they were miffed that the applicant was both maximising the extensions that could be built without needing any planning permission but also applying for planning permission for the extra first-floor rear extension.
This is not the correct approach! The permitted development extensions were built and in place and it was not appropriate for the council to reconsider them as part of the new application.
The inspector agreed with the council that the existing extensions (under permitted development) were not necessarily good design, but they were already in place and were lawful.
The inspector agreed with us that the new extension, in isolation, was appropriate in size, tucked away from view from the street and represented good design. We were delighted when planning permission was granted.
We are particularly active in Hillingdon and have a high success rate at appeal there, both for householder extensions and for infill dwellings (another kind of development the Hillingdon planners really don’t like!). We have reported on some other successes in the borough here, here and here.
If you have been refused planning permission by those pesky planners in Hillingdon, please get in touch for some independent advice!
