Market Lavington wiltshire planning consultants Winchester
Image courtesy of Western Design Architects

Wiltshire Council: Pure Town Planning recently won a planning appeal in the conservation area in Market Lavington, Wiltshire. The appeal proposal, designed by Western Design Architects, was for the conversion of a former pub into two houses together with a third new-build dwelling in the rear garden area – the

The Council had previously accepted the redundancy of the pub in this location and the issues for the proposal centred around the impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area and the safety of the highway access. Eventually this scheme was rejected by the Wiltshire Council planning committee because it was felt that the highway access – through an arch in the pub building – was unsatisfactory.

An earlier appeal, which involved two new build dwellings to the rear, had been rejected on grounds of the impact on the conservation area. However in that appeal the Inspector found that the proposed highway access would be satisfactory particularly given the fall-back position that the access could be lawfully used as access to a pub car-park with significantly more traffic.

The earlier appeal therefore opened the door to success on the second appeal with the new Inspector agreeing with the first on the highway issue – and therefore approving the second scheme. It just goes to demonstrate that very often a lost appeal nonetheless can still be a significant step forward in achieving planning consent on a site.

If you have had planning consent refused then why not contact Pure Town Planning to see what our view is on whether an appeal would be worth pursuing.