Borough of Poole: Pure Town Planning’s recent run of planning approvals shows no sign of slowing down… Planning permission has just been unanimously granted at Poole Planning Committee to replace a bungalow with four back-to-back town houses in Pen Hill.
This planning consent follows a previous application for a larger scheme of 5 units which was refused by the Borough of Poole for being “over development of the site due to the scale and amount of building which would be visually intrusive and harmful to the visual qualities of the street and have a prejudicial effect upon the character and appearance of the the streetscene”, as well as impact on protected trees. Pure Town Planning conducted a planning appeal on this previous scheme. Whilst the appeal was dismissed we won on the main point about over development. The Inspector’s only concern was the uncertain impact on trees. We managed to successfully convince the Inspector that there was no harm with the scale of the building, the number of units, the parking, the design nor its impact on the character and appearance of the locality. All these issues were deemed to be acceptable by the Inspector.
The appeal paved the way for a revised scheme again designed by Anders Roberts and Associates working alongside Pure Town Planning. The revised scheme reduced the number of units on the site to four, which naturally reduced the scale of the building and level of parking and increased the amount of garden amenity space around the proposal. All of these positive changes meant that the Tree Officer removed his previous objection, thus overcoming the Inspector’s sole reason for refusal. It left the Planning Officer with no option but to recommend approval because as stated in an email; “there would be no reasonable reason for us to recommend refusal of this application”.
Due to the level of neighbour opposition and because a ward Councillor red carded this application, the final decision rested with Poole Planning Committee. Pure Town Planning presented a deputation explaining the history and why the scheme was now deemed to be acceptable to all the Council’s professional officers – the application was unanimously approved.
If you have a housing development which is struggling through the planning system and are looking for a firm with a fresh approach and a proven track record of successfully negotiating solutions to planning problems then why not give us a call or send us an email to find out how we can assist you in achieving permission for your scheme.