PROPOSAL: First floor extension and single storey rear and side extension.

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION: Permit.

68.21        This application was for a first floor extension and single storey rear and side extension. 

68.22        The Senior Planning Officer advised that this was a householder application seeking extensions and alterations to an existing dwelling.  The dwelling was constructed approximately six years ago and comprised a contemporary architectural form. The extensions would come in two main parts: firstly, a mono-pitched extension at ground floor level which would be finished in a buff coloured brick to match the Cotswold stone façade and, secondly, a first storey extension on top of the existing structure which would comprise an asymmetric contemporary design finished in timber cladding to the walls and metal sheeting to the roof to match the existing dwelling.  The application required a Committee determination due to an objection from Woodmancote Parish Council; however, this has been systematically addressed within the Committee report and, notwithstanding this objection, the development as proposed fully accorded with the policies of the development plan including those pertaining to design, highways, amenity, landscape and conservation.  As such, the recommendation was to permit the application subject to the conditions set out in the Committee report.

68.23        The Chair invited the representative from Woodmancote Parish Council to address the Committee.  The Parish Council representative indicated that the Parish Council greatly valued the work of the Council’s Planning team and was generally very happy with the in depth work Officers did in relation to applications in Woodmancote; however, in this instance, it could not support the evaluation set out in the Committee report and drew attention to two key issues.  With regard to design and visual amenity, Policy 9 of the Woodmancote Neighbourhood Development Plan required development to respect the local character. A detailed character assessment had been carried out as part of the Woodmancote Neighbourhood Development Plan and the design of the proposed development contained almost every negative feature and almost no positive features of that plan. Woodmancote Parish Council fundamentally disagreed with Page No. 127, Paragraph 8.5 of the Committee report and the fact that the first floor extension was in keeping with the existing dwelling was irrelevant in this particular set of circumstances because it was the surrounding development that represented the coherent character of the area. This proposal was not in keeping with any other property in Beverley Gardens and therefore conflicted with Policy RES10 of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan and Policy SD4 of the Joint Core Strategy.  In relation to impact on the Cotswold National Landscape, this property already negatively impacted the setting of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the extension should be viewed alongside the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan Strategic Guidelines where it was accepted that this location impacted the setting. A suburban style with glazed balconies represented an extremely unwelcome suburban intrusion and created glint and light pollution in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As such, it conflicted with Joint Core Strategy Policy SD7 and did not conserve or enhance the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

68.24        The Chair indicated that the Officer recommendation was to permit the application and he sought a motion from the floor.  A Member questioned what role Woodmancote Neighbourhood Development Plan had played in consideration of this application and the Senior Planning Officer confirmed that it had been considered from the outset and the relevant policies were referenced within the Committee report.  Another Member noted that the Parish Council’s written objection referred to Policy RES5 of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan and asked why this did not apply to this application.  The Senior Planning Officer explained that Policy RES5 related to applications for new housing development; Policy SD4 of the Joint Core Strategy, Policy RES10 of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan were the relevant policies in relation to extensions to a dwelling.  A Member questioned why there was no reference to the Neighbourhood Development Plan policies and was informed that Policy 9 of the Woodmancote Neighbourhood Development Plan had the same requirements as Policy SD4 and RES10 which was referenced at Page No. 127 of the Committee report within the Design and Visual Amenity section.

68.25        A Member indicated that she had no issue with the ground floor extension but was concerned that the first floor extension would be visually more obtrusive.  The Senior Planning Officer confirmed this had been assessed against the design policy and whilst there would be an additional element, when read against the backdrop of the existing contemporary element, Officers did not consider the impact to be detrimental.  In response to a query as to whether the proposal could be carried out under permitted development rights, Members were advised that the single storey element would probably be able to be done under permitted development rights but she was unable to give a definitive answer regarding the first floor element without further investigation – it was possible that permitted development rights may have been removed as part of the 2015 planning permission.

68.26        It was proposed and seconded that the application be permitted in accordance with the Officer recommendation and, upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED           That the application be PERMITTED in accordance with the Officer recommendation.