Southbourne Overcliff DriveBournemouth Borough Council: Pure Town Planning are delighted to announce that we have recently secured outline planning permission for the demolition of 2 existing bungalows and the erection of a block of 10 luxury apartments at Southbourne Overcliff Drive with striking panoramic views of the Dorset coastline.

Prior to the favourable decision, the site was the subject of many applications and had a negative planning history with two flatted proposals which comprised of 14 and 11 units respectively, being refused by the LPA and the latter being dismissed at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate who had concerns about overdevelopment.

In determining the appeal the Inspector made clear that the principle of redevelopment was acceptable and should not be resisted by the Council. In his conclusions he stated “in principle I can see no objection to replacing the existing bungalows with a development of flats.”

With the above in mind, we worked collaboratively with ARC Architecture to prepare a revised application for our clients that sought to overcome the Inspector’s concerns. As part of the application we prepared a thorough supporting design, access, and planning statement which set out the merits of the proposal in a clear and concise manner, whilst making it clear that the proposals no longer represented overdevelopment and was therefore in accordance with adopted planning policies that support sustainable residential development.

Upon considering the application and supporting documents, the LPA remained of the view that the proposals represented overdevelopment and as a result of the recent landslide on the East Cliff concerns were expressed about the impact of the development on cliff stability. As such we took a proactive approach and commissioned engineers at B E Willis Partnership to prepare slope stability report which confirmed that the development could proceed safely. We also negotiated extensively with the Planning Officer to achievable a mutually agreeable solution, which resulted in a minor reduction to the overall scale of the building, but importantly not the number of units as this would have rendered the scheme unviable. After 5 months of negotiation the application was recommended for approval and the Council’s Planning Board moved to grant planning permission for the development. The client was understandably thrilled with the decision and is now preparing for the development of the site.

If you have a site or existing property and would like to pursue a residential development or if you’ve had planning permission refused then why not call the experts at Pure Town Planning on 01202 585524 or email info@puretownplanning.co.uk for a FREE 30 minute consultation on how we can help you.