South Downs National Park Authority (Winchester City Council area): Jess Glover has recently secured planning permission for a replacement dwelling in the South Downs National Park.

The client approached Pure Town Planning as their existing dwelling was not only in a poor state of repair, but it also abutted a main road and was therefore subject to serious traffic noise. Therefore they sought to erect a replacement dwelling sited away from the roadside to provide more peace and tranquillity for the occupants.

Policy SD30 of The South Down National Park Local Plan (adopted 2019) permits the replacement of residential dwellings outside of settlement boundaries providing that the proposal would not result in a floorspace increase of more than 30% and the original dwelling is not overbearing or of a form which would be detrimental to the amenity of nearby residents by virtue of loss of light and/or privacy.

As part of the application, we were required to submit a comprehensive Design, Access and Planning Statement. Further information was required in terms of ecology to provide information pertaining to protected species, an Arboricultural Report and a Landscape Visual Impact Assessment to provide evidence that the proposal would have an acceptable impact upon biodiversity, trees and the landscape.

The proposed dwelling was designed to have a low impact appearance so that it would fit organically in the landscape. The single storey scale of the proposed dwelling in combination with the use of natural materials such as local stone and green sedum roof resulted in a dwelling which is attractive and safeguards the landscape character of the national park.

The Planning Officer agreed that subject to conditions the proposal would be in compliance with the purposes of Policy SD30 and was therefore considered to protect the supply of smaller homes and to protect the landscape character of the National Park and recommended the application for approval.

If you are considering a replacement dwelling in a national park then why don’t you contact Pure Town Planning at info@puretownplanning.co.uk for a free confidential planning enquiry.