Conservation area planning permission query

cd_aug2005

Dear All,
Need some urgent help please! Any advice would be great.
We live in a beautiful 1930s house in a conservation area. It is a four bed house. However, we just had a baby and now my parents wants to move in with us to help and hence we need to extend. We applied for a single storey porch and side extension towards the front and a double storey towards the back. We have no objections from both neighbours about the double storey back extension as we have plenty of space and privacy from both sides. But I called council and they said that the front single storey porch and side extension are against conservation rules. I don't understand that why they have objections to front when few of other houses have done the same? They said you cannot have a flush front as it does not look like 1930s. I don;t understand this? Can you please advice what can I do to get planning permission for my house?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Doozergirl

A conservation area is all about conserving the view of what is there. The frontages are valued and therefore the liklihood of getting something approved is lower.

You need to speak to the person who is looking after your application and find out what would be acceptable to them. If it is a conservation officer, then it's almost completely down to their whim. Compromise is always the key with these people.

The back is much more lilely to be approved as it doesn't affect the streetscene. If you are going to get permssion at the front, it probably needs to fit in with what is there. Was your architect particularly sensitive to the conservation aspects?

stator

If they say you can't have a flush side extension then you'll have to build it further back from the road.

cd_aug2005

Thank you doozergirl and stator. I am happy to build the porch and side extension a bit back. I think the officer has hinted that a half a meter back would be OK for side extension. But there is no advice for the porch. My house is a neo-Tudor and neo-Vernacular style, therefore, it is very difficult to get the porch extention correct in terms of conservation restrictions. I don't even know what they want me to do. I am going to withdraw my application and re apply as a free application where the officer can come and have a look at the ideas and suggest some solution.

Doozergirl

Work your layout to make your 'porch' internal? What are you trying to acheive with it?

Any extension in my district would be expected to be set back and down from the house. They want them all subservient.

princeofpounds

The other houses may have had the work done before it became a conservation area (believe it or not, planning was not always hard as nails). Or they might have just put it up unchallenged. Or a different conservation officer was running a different policy at the time.