BCP Council (Poole): Matt Annen is pleased to have recently secured planning permission for the demolition of an existing house and erection of a replacement 6000 sqft dwelling beautifully designed by Marlow Architects. The brief provided by the client was to create a dwelling which would not look out of place next to the contemporary houses found in Palm Springs, California.
Despite not falling within a conservation area (albeit there is one opposite), the Council’s conservation officer objected stating “the enlarged footprint of the proposed dwelling is to cover a substantial amount of the site and introduces a solid massing of uniform height across the full width of the plot within Lawrence Drive. The excessive linear flat roofed form of the main two storey dwelling and single storey extension facing the CA would fail to reflect the prevailing scale and pattern of development and is deemed harmful to the character and appearance of the area.” Pure Town Planning provided a strong rebuttal against this very one dimensional comment. We alerted the planning officer to other examples of contemporary designs found along the same side of the road and also within the conservation area itself! As well as drawing attention to the previously approved consents on the site which provided a material planning consideration.
Thankfully when weighing up the planning balance the officer was happy to support the scheme and responded to the objections in her report by stating “the proposed scheme has been assessed by the Council’s Urban Design and Conservation Officer who objected to the proposal however it is not considered that the objections have any weight given principles are already established via previous approvals as discussed, given the site is outside of the conservation area and that the conservation area itself is large. The height of the proposal is acceptable and its flat roofed design helps achieve this. Previous approvals… and the existing dwelling sit considerably higher than this proposal“.
If you are thinking of embarking on a building project to realise your dream home whether that be via a remodel or full replacement, we’d be happy to assist you navigate what can often be a challenging planning process.