Boughton conservaton area approval planning consultants HampshireTest Valley Borough Council: Pure Town Planning were pleased to recently achieve planning permission for alterations to a domestic outbuilding in a conservation area in Broughton near Stockbridge in Hampshire.

The outbuilding dated back to Victorian times and was associated with a fine period High Street property which historically was a shop. The property is now a large family house with a sizeable garden. Unfortunately the outbuilding sits immediately behind the house almost filling the width of the plot. Our client wished to reduce its width in order to open up views through from the house to the garden beyond.

Our client approached Pure Town Planning for assistance after a similar application had been refused with the Test Valley Borough Council conservation officer finding that the proposal would not preserve or enhance the conservation area because the outbuilding was of historic interest in its own right. There was also a concern from the County ecologist that bats might be using the building.

Pure Town Planning advised on a producing a simpler scheme which would better respect the form of the outbuilding, we arranged a bat survey of the building (which found no evidence of bat use) and then put together a robust case (including research showing that the building was not contemporary with the main house as the conservation officer originally assumed). All this enabled the Council’s planning officer to conclude that the proposal would now preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area and would cause no harm to bats. Planning consent was duly granted for the proposal.

If you have received a planning refusal, large or small then why not contact Pure Town Planning to see if we think we can turn it around.