The homeowner had sought planning permission to extend his house to the side over two floors and to create a new house in the extension.
The council refused planning permission because it was concerned that the proposed two-floor extension would be out of scale and character with the existing property and the surrounding terraced houses. It argued that the extension would disrupt the uniformity and cohesiveness of the street scene.
In the appeal decision, the inspector agreed with us that the extension was carefully designed to harmonise with the existing house and that it would fit in very well with what is a varied streetscene, with a wide mix of housing types and extensions.
The inspector decided that the proposal complies with several key policies, including Policy D4 of the London Plan, Policy CP3 of Barking and Dagenham’s Core Strategy, and Policy BP11 of Barking and Dagenham’s Development Policies. These policies emphasise the importance of high-quality design and ensuring that new developments relate appropriately to their local context.
In general, the government is very keen to squeeze new houses into existing urban areas with good access to local transport and other facilities. The government’s National Planning Policy Framework says that we must make more efficient use of land and the London Plan seeks higher densities, even when it means that the character of an area will change.
Local councils, however, have other priorities – they do not want their areas to change too much and they are more sensitive to local opinion.
Councils are therefore very quick to refuse planning permission for new infill houses and it is often necessary to go to appeal to get consent.
We wrote about infill houses in a recent article in The Times, including our top tips for getting planning permission for a house in your garden.
If you need help with a planning appeal, contact our lovely planners for some advice, and don’t forget to check out Martin Gaine’s bestselling book – How to Get Planning Permission.
