Neighbours are ‘cock-a-hoop’ after Cheshire West and Chester Council rejected a retrospective planning application for a loft extension including dormer at a Victorian terrace in Handbridge.
Simon Dangar, who owns one of the next door properties, is delighted the planning authority has denied consent for the loft extension to the rear of the 1884 Overleigh Road property which lies within a conservation area. However, the applicants intend to appeal.
Mr Dangar, a financial advisor from Farndon, who rents out his other house, said: “I’m in a very good mood. I’m cock-a-hoop. The roof thing is monstrous. The officer’s report didn’t mention it was retrospective and that demolition had been carried out without telling anyone. I’m just so pleased initially it’s been turned down. But it has been built, so what happens now? It could still go on for a long time.”
A decision is awaited on a separate retrospective planning application to enlarge an existing ground floor rear extension.
Mr Dangar is less upset about this aspect. “Is it going to make much difference? That’s a fight between them and Cheshire West and Chester Council.”
In refusing permission for the loft extension, the planning department said the dormer window and roof lights by reason of their size, design and siting would be ‘out-of-keeping’ with the scale and character of the existing dwelling and terrace. It would detract fron the original dwellings and the uniformity of the roofline. It would therefore cause significant harm to the conservation area in which the property is located.
The refusal notice also states that it had ‘not been possible to work with the applicant in a positive and proactive way’ which Mr Dangar interprets as meaning the applicants are ‘miles and miles away’ from coming up with an acceptable compromise.
Wirral-based SDA Architecture & Surveying, agents for the project, had indicated applicants Andy and Debbie Dear, may decide not to move into their retirement home, where building work worth an estimated £30,000 has been carried out, because of the bad feelings generated locally. But The Chronicle understands they will move in after all.
And the agents have confirmed the planning refusal will be appealed ‘as soon as possible’. The application for the rear extension will be heard at the council’s planning committee of December 1.
