The developers of a new detached house currently being constructed on a plot in Ratcliffe Drive have been refused planning permission for a conservatory after a local councillor said there was “deep concern both locally and within [Stoke Gifford] Parish Council” regarding the effect of the development on the locality.
The property, although fronting onto Ratcliffe Drive, is being constructed on a plot of land that belongs to no. 13 Cerimon Gate, a small cul-de-sac off Ratcliffe Drive.
Planning permission for the controversial development was finally granted in May 2012, after two previous applications for outline permission had been turned down by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) in 2010 and 2011.
Complaints that the new house was not being constructed in accordance with the approved plans, followed by investigations by SGC’s Planning Enforcement Team, led to a further planning application being made in December 2012, to “regularise the situation” with respect to the repositioning of side windows and the construction of a conservatory on the side of the property.
The latest application attracted 26 letters from occupiers of neighbouring buildings, who complained that the repositioned windows would invade privacy and the conservatory would use amenity land allocated to the dwelling. There were also allegations that the developers had breached working hour restrictions and harassed neighbours.
SGC’s Development Control (West) Committee considered the latest application at its meeting in February and arrived at a ‘split’ decison, whereby the repositioning of the side windows was approved but permission for the conservatory was refused, because of its “detrimental impact upon the amenity of the occupants of nearby dwellings” and “the loss of [a] significant amount of the residential amenity space for the existing dwelling to the detriment of the amenity of its future occupants”.
Related link: Minutes of the February planning committee meeting (SGC) [PDF, 127kb]
People that buy this house can build it within the permitted building reg ,have seen this done before
Allegedly, (according to one of the people who have actively complained about this development) the property has been sold, or is being sold, to the builder himself, although this may just be rumour. Whatever, the project has certainly created a lot of local bad feeling.
The parish council refused this planning application. and i thought there was a preservation order on the lovely willow tree that was there, so who on south glos let this through, whats the point in having planning applications/meetings when it seems you can do what you like, with the local people who live there being ignored.