Rother District Council refused this application on 1st March after originally validating it on 21st May the previous year. There reasons were stated as;
1 – The proposed annexe with ground floor sleeping accommodation situated within a flood zone 3 is classed as a ‘more vulnerable’ use by the Planning Practice Guidance. There was no flood risk assessment or details submitted to evaluate the risk from the development and the proposal would be contrary to Policy EN7 of the Core Strategy and paragraph 171 of The National Planning Policy Framework.
2 – The proposal fails to demonstrate why the annexe could not be an extension to the main dwelling, failing to satisfy the sequential approach taken to annexe proposals. Other options for providing annexe accommodation do not appear to have been considered and the current location forward of the building line appears as a dominant presence on the street scene. Therefore, the proposal conflicts with Policy DHG10 of the Development and Site Allocations Local Plan, policy OSS4(iii) of the Core Strategy and paragraph 130 of the NPPF.
3 – The annexe, with no WC or washing facilities provided for the occupant, does not result in a quality standard of accommodation or meet the needs of future occupiers, including providing appropriate amenities, contrary to policy OSS4 of the Core Strategy.
The Appeal Statement for this case that is shown in this video and was produced specifically to overcome the refusal reasons issued by Rother District Council for this application. As with many of these types of refusals, the reasons are very subjective and as such require a comprehensive and robust detailed appeal statement. Never under-estimate the level of detail needed, covering policies both locally and nationally and where possible brining other approvals and appeals into the argument. We will explain in the video in more detail what and how to achieve this.
The Planning Inspectorate visited the site on 10th August and issued the decision on 5th September.
We are pleased to share that this appeal was successful as detailed in the Planning Inspectors report.
Retrospective Annex in Garden Planning Appeal Rother Council Case Study
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