Agenda item

To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer on an application for two storey, single storey side/rear extension

(report attached)

  Plans, photographs and drawings were displayed at the meeting

  Officers presented the report which related to an application for a two storey rear and single storey side extension to 9 Fieldhead Drive LS15.  It was noted that the site was located within the Green Belt and whilst a number of surrounding properties had been extended, the majority of these had been done so prior to the adoption of the Householder Design Guide which limited the extent to which properties within the Green Belt could be extended up to 30%

  The planning history of the site was briefly outlined, with it being noted that an application for a two storey rear extension, resulting in an increase in volume of 62% had been refused by Panel at its meeting on 24^th July 2014 (minute 30 refers).  A Members site visit had been undertaken prior to the meeting in July

  The application before Panel would result in a volume increase of 62% and was considered to be disproportionate, with the recommendation before Panel being to refuse the application.  No very special circumstances had been demonstrated in this case to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt through inappropriate development

  Members were also informed that a Prior Approval application had been submitted and that the Government had recently changed the regulations regarding this to allow rear extensions of up to 8 metres to detached residential dwellings provided there were no objections from neighbours.  In this case no neighbour objections had been received but Officers were of the view that little weight should be given to that fallback position

  An error in paragraph 10.4 was corrected to state that the applicant’s agent did not consider the extension to be disproportionate

  The Panel heard representations from the applicant’s agent who provided information on the application, which included:

·  the applicant’s needs for their family

·  the level of support for the proposals locally from neighbours and the Parish Council

·  the reliance of Officers on the Householder Design Guide which did not take into account the NPPF

·  that policy N33 was out of date, with this being demonstrated recently at appeal

·  that limiting the volume increase of dwellings in the Green Belt by 30% related more to large dwellings rather than modest houses

·  the volume increase of the permitted development scheme was larger, at 82%

The Panel discussed the application, with the following matters being

raised:

·  the difficulty of this decision; an appreciation of the needs of the family and the support the proposal had attracted within the local community

·  an understanding of the seeming unfairness of the situation when surrounding householders had been able to extend their properties in the past

·  the need to adhere to the Council’s policy

·  that the proposals were reasonable

The Panel considered how to proceed

RESOLVED -  That the application be refused for the following reason:

The Local Planning Authority consider that the proposed extensions, by virtue of their overall height, scale and siting, represent a disproportionate addition to the dwelling which would also harm the openness and character of the Green Belt, and which are therefore considered to be inappropriate development.  Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and as no very special circumstances have been demonstrated, the proposal is considered contrary to the aims and intentions of policy N33 of the Leeds Unitary Development Plan (Review) 2003, policy HDG3 of the Householder Design Guide as well as guidance contained within the National Planning Policy Framework