Man loses appeal for sizeable extensions to family home |
Jack Mills had asked the Planning Inspectorate to overturn Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s refusal of plans for a single-storey front extension and two-storey side and rear extension at his end-terrace house in Cradock Avenue in Great Yarmouth.
In their decision report, the inspector said the main issue was the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the existing house and the surrounding area.
Cradock Avenue was described as having a traditional, consistent pattern of housing, with “regular” building lines, pitched roofs with matching eaves and ridge heights, and an “ordered appearance with a regular pattern of rear extensions”.
Cradock Avenue in Great Yarmouth. (Image: Google Maps)
The inspector said the front extension, because of its depth, width and height up to the first-floor window, would be “more substantial than other front extensions in the area” and would “dominate the front of the building and detract from its traditional character”.
The two-storey rear element would similarly “entirely obscure the original rear elevation” and its eaves.
The large flat roof would also “heavily detract” from the traditional pitched roof form, with these effects visible from the road and the rear service drive, the inspector added.
Mr Mills said the extensions were needed to provide “necessary family accommodation”.
The inspector gave this “limited weight”, however, saying there was no evidence that a more appropriate, less harmful solution could not meet that need.
The council’s planning department had rejected the application because the extension would be “harmful to the character and appearance of the dwelling and the street scene” and “unsympathetic to the form of the original dwelling.”