Councils are often very reluctant to grant planning permission to add a new floor to a bungalow, turning it into a two-storey house. They tend to argue that the upwards extension will make the house look out of place on the streetscene, especially if there are lots of other bungalows in the area.
This approach is overly harsh – as long as the extension is well designed the new house will fit in fine in a residential area. It is not unusual for bungalows to sit next to two-storey houses.
In this case, the council refused permission even though the bungalow was very close to much taller houses and the streetscene was varied with all sorts of different houses (detached bungalows, detached two storey dwellings, semi-detached two storey dwellings and a two storey terrace).
The inspector agreed with us that the extension would not cause any harm to the area and granted planning permission.
