Planning Appraisal Group - TrustNews Dec 13
Decisions on planning appeals often seem to depend on whether the Inspector is playing completely by the book, or whether he (it usually is a he) has taken the special quality of the particular neighbourhood being considered into account during his deliberations. Two recent decisions are therefore especially welcome.
The first was for a scheme in Stoney Lane, a road that is beginning to show the signs of becoming another Chilbolton Avenue as far as new developments are concerned. This was the proposal to demolish 68 Stoney Lane and build ten dwellings on its site and on land at the rear of Nos 58-72 that was reported as being refused in the February TrustNews, and we wrote a letter supporting the City's refusal. The Inspector has dismissed the scheme, concluding that the area's character and appearance would be unacceptably harmed by the development, and that its height and massing would appear overbearing and unduly confining when seen from the back gardens of the houses in Stoney Lane, which would be at a lower level and would have little space for effective screening after the development had been built.
The second was for the proposal to demolish Rooksacre, Lankhills Road, to make way for four 5-bedroom dwellings of traditional design. This is a road with a leafy and informal character, and as reported in the May TrustNews, we wrote a letter in support of the City’s refusal of this scheme, which has now been dismissed. The inspector considered that the scale and mass of the new building, which would extend across almost the full width of the plot, would constitute overdevelopment of the site, requiring too many trees to be felled and with many of the remaining trees so close to the new houses that in the future there could be pressure to have them cut back or felled. He also felt that the opening up of the hard surfaced frontage to the road would be damaging to the attractive character of the area.
An appeal has recently been made against the City's refusal to permit a 3-bedroom attached dwelling to 40 King's Avenue, which has been the subject of four previous appeals for similar developments, all of which have been dismissed. The reason for this is the site's position beside the main entrance into the recreation ground in Stanmore, which is considered to be a remarkably good example of symmetrical estate design. Previous reasons for dismissal include the damage that would be caused to the view, both when approaching the recreation ground and when leaving it, and that an addition here would be an incongruous intrusion that would conflict with the symmetry of the entrance and result in a significant loss to the local scene that is part of the core area of an estate considered to be of considerable planning and architectural merit. We have again written supporting the refusal of this new scheme, and now wait with our fingers crossed to see whether there will be a fifth dismissal for a house on this site.
A resubmitted proposal for Park House, Park Road is wending its way through the planning system. It is very similar to the previous scheme, and while we again welcome the sympathetic conversion of the existing house, our previous concerns remain: too large an area allocated for parking, some units being too close to the boundaries and two supposedly ancillary buildings being too tall.
We have had pre-application presentations of two schemes that are currently under consideration by the planners. The first was for a 2-storey extension to provide improved facilities for the Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street, which was liked by all concerned, although there were reservations about the materials that were proposed and the many times the name of the theatre appeared on the frontage. The second was the proposed demolition of the Lindsey Works, Moorside Road to make way for a block of student accommodation comprising 237 bedrooms. The design was generally well liked, with two provisos: that the main entrance needed more emphasis and that the courtyard should be less structured in layout so that there would be more open space for the students.
The Trust has just had another interesting pre-application presentation, for the conversion of St Thomas Church, Southgate Street to residential use. It is good that a use has been found for this landmark building, and we welcomed the ingenious and sensitive scheme that should result in a sympathetic conversion of the interior.