Planning Permission Rejected

[YellowTulips]

So planning permission for a loft conversion that would have given us an additional bedroom and playroom has been rejected.

House is in a conservation area, but all the changes would have been at the back and consistent with the materials and detailing of the (old 1730's, but not listed) house.

Reasons for rejection are just flimsy and btw no neighbours opposed the plans.

Anyway we have decided to appeal at a cost of £500 and have found out the decision will take up to 28 weeks!!!

Even if we get the decision overturned that's a hell of a long wait.....especially as I (foolishly) had been mentally shopping all the new furniture and soft furnishings and lusting over F&B paint charts ;-)

So all in all am AIBU to be cross about the whole damn matter? :-)

Oh heavens, 'conservation area' - it's like that here in Islington. We can't even paint our courtyard railings any colour except black, even though we own the freehold of our property. Can't see why your planning people object - sounds a reasonable application. Hope you get it sorted - I used to be married to a property developer, and come Christmas, he'd go around to local council offices with boot of his car filled with crates of booze ... not sure that that works these days

have you talked one to one with the inspector? It might be possible to have a chat and sort out a solution.

...while I think of it, if this was your first go at submitting a planning application, you should normally have a free-go on a resubmitted application as long as the red line doesn't change... it may be worth a second attempt

The key reason was the impact of the proposed former on the character and appearance of the area.

However the immediate vicinity is littered in dormers - at the front, whereas mine would be rear.

The planning consultant has referenced all the policies wrt the objection.

Dormer not Former...

You can't talk to one with the inspector! That's the quickest way to get planning permission overturned!!

Everything gets copied to you and the Council including any comments from other local residents.

Hmm - am I right in guessing that the dormers in the vicinity tend to look the same, whereas yours is more modern (nothing wrong with being more modern) It sounds as if the officer has based their recommendation on the basis that your dormer is not in keeping with the 1970's/1980's dormers already there? If your dormer doesn't project above the original roofline, and doesn't have a flat roof profile, there should be no real reason for refusal, even in a conservation area. You can try to show that you sought to introduce some individuality - as it is at the back, it would not harm the character of the conservation area from the main public streetscene...

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

Our proposed dormer would fit the building in the sense of matching windows and roof tiles to match our old property (not flat roof).

The ones around us are a mix of old and new tbh.

I'm pretty sure our appeal is comprehensive (runs to pages and pages).

It's just the process making me vent.

I think you need to submit an Heritage Impact Assessment for the appeal.

I am a buildings archaeologist and do these quite regularly. Your architect should know someone who does these.

Liquidstateisonthemulled you have my idea job in the whole world ever evah! Is it really interesting? Do you leap out of bed to go and poke about old buildings?