The appeal inspector was highly critical of Kingston Council’s decision in this case and not only granted full planning permission for the two-storey rear extension but made a full costs award (meaning that the council has to pay our client’s costs of preparing and submitting the appeal).
The council had argued that the extension was poor design and would look out of place and also that the first floor part of the extension would harm neighbours.
The inspector agreed with us that the extensions were to the back and not really visible from the street and that every other house on the terrace already had large rear extensions. The house next door already had a similar first floor extension.
Given the extensions at other houses, the inspector did not agree with the council that there could be any harm to the neighbours. She was critical of the council for not providing any detailed analysis of why the extensions would harm neighbours and was particularly critical of their decision given that they had not raised the issue of impact on neighbours when refusing a similar previous proposal for the site.
We were very pleased with the decision because it was so obviously unfair.
If you need help with a planning refusal, please do not hesitate to contact our team. To find out more about how you can win costs awards, check out the government’s guidance.
Martin Gaine’s book on How to Get Planning Permission has a chapter on planning appeals and a section on how to win an award of costs.
