Has a president already been set???

malcindebt

Posting for a friend.

He lives in a mid terraced house and the kitchen is a seperate single story building with a pitched roof attached to the back of the house (outrigger?) All the houses in the street are the same.

approx 10 doors up has extended on top of this single story building therefore creating a 2 story building with a flat roof. This was dome some 15 years ago.

My friend has had his planning application to do the same refused twice. The first plan was to have a 2nd story build with a pitched roof falling towards the existing building and creating a V with the edge of the existing roof, and also a planning request for a 2 story build with a Flat roof.

The planners say the main problem is the possibility of the neighbours being overlooked, but the only window will be facing away from the house and no windows facing either neighbour. They also said it would cause the daylight to be blocked. However there has been no objection to the plans, and both neighbours are Housing Association properties.

Can my friend use the fact that one other house in the street has done this very extension as reason why the application should be accepted?

olias

Has your friend actually put this to the planning officer and asked them? Has he tried asking them what alterations he could make to his application in order for it to be acceptible? He really needs to speak to them and ask them what his options are

Olias

dander

I don't think it works that way. I think when people look at what other houses have had done as a guide it's just a case that if several houses have had that particular extension done, then it's likely to be something that planning officers are happy with. I would suspect that if no other property has had this particular style of extension since that one 15 years ago, then it's probably a sign that it's something they don't allow and that one property either got very lucky or built it without getting permission.

I believe (and I'm perfectly happy to be prooved wrong!) that two stories extensions on terrace properties are something most councils have on their list of things they are unlikely to approve because of the issues you mention above.

Poppy9

I lived in a terrace house with a two storey rear extension which had been built by previous owner. A few neighbours had them, all with flat roofs as flat roofs were allowed at the time.

One of my immediate neighbours applied for PP to build a two storey extension when we lived there and it was refused even though we didn't object as the council said it had changed it's rules on rear extensions. He was planning on appealing but not sure what happened as we moved house.

I do know that our LA normally refuses flat roofs and when we extended our current house were very keen on specifing the min. pitch of the roof.

planning_officer

malcindebt wrote: »

Can my friend use the fact that one other house in the street has done this very extension as reason why the application should be accepted?

In a word - no!

There is usually no such thing as precedent in planning decisions - every case is decided on its own merits. I dealt with a planning appeal recently where someone argued a house in the street had done something similar - the Appeal Inspector actually commented that that strengthened his reason for dismissing the appeal, as it looked awful and he wouldn't want to see it replicated on any of the other houses!