Appealing a planning decision

[SalamiToastie]

Current house is 3 bed, downstairs bathroom. Single story kitchen extension/bathroom to side.
It’s a Semi with space only to the side to extend - garden is to side of house.

We wanted to make it 4 bed (3 double, 1 single) and upstairs bathroom.
This would almost double the size of the original 1900s house. But the floor plan downstairs would be the same size as currently.

We’ve been approved for 3 bed, upstairs bathroom.

Has anyone been successful in appealing a planning decision similarly?

Our neighbours are actively supportive of the original larger design. It won’t overlook them or anyone else as a rural setting.
Help!

We did in 2019ish OP - similar change in size etc. We were successful.

We used a specialist appeal firm recommended by our architects and it cost us £3,000 and about 6 months if I remember correctly. The pricing structure was such that we paid half upfront and the remainder only if our appeal was successful. Some we looked at had the majority of the few payable only if successful but we felt, given the high stakes, that we wanted them to be able to cover their bills as it were.

You could do itself but you only get one chance - the decision from the appeals office in Bristol is final. The dossier that the company we used was incredible - it ran to some 30 pages long and was very thorough. They certainly earned their fee!

Happy to share the details of the company we used if you DM me.

Thanks @LondonNQT have dm’d you

Hi,

I'm in a similar situation, please could you share the company with me also?

Thanks!

On what grounds did they not approve what you applied for?

@trazza21 you would probably find a local planning consultant just as helpful - particularly if they are familiar with the area, your local Council policies and other similar cases.
If you have a look on your Council's planning application pages, you should be able to look up recent appeals and see which agent has dealt with them to get some ideas. Or have a look on the RTPI website for local Chartered Planners.

What were the grounds for rejection?

We had our original application disputed because they misread the plans 🙄they wanted the upper extension reduced to be 1m away from the boundary. Our architect was able to speak with them (the ground floor was actually 0.8m from the boundary and the plan was to take the upstairs to that wall) and after having the plans redrawn with those measurements stated we were granted full approval.

Besides adding the measurements of the side alley, we made no changes to the plans in order to get them approved.

Grounds for rejection were: not subservient to the existing property and dominating to one neighbour (the side we aren't joined to) They have a kitchen window in the side which was added into a two story extension and they then have a single story extension. The joined neighbour put in for planning during Covid and when house was empty and has built an 11m long double and single story extension on the boundary 😩 So basically we are in a tunnel!
Both neighbours objected (even the one with the huge extension)!
We are a two up two down and we're asking for an extra bedroom with en-suite and an upstairs bathroom all to the rear. The loft is low so would be a lot of work with lowering ceilings.
I'm starting to lose hope and a 3m single story extension under permitted development won't really help us and won't get us the extra bedroom we really need.

Update from my last post. We got a company to write us a fantastic appeal however it wasn’t upheld. Put in a new application for a large single story with a downstairs bedroom. Different planning officer this time who passed it straight away!