Agenda item

Variation of condition 2 (Approved plans) on planning application P22/S0537/FUL to consider the acceptability of constructing the proposed dwelling at existing ground level in light of additional support information in the form of a Landscape & Visual Technical Note. (As amplified by additional information received 02 December 2022).

Erection of replacement dwelling with associated parking and landscaping. Erection of a replacement pool house, machinery store and gates.

During this agenda item, the meeting length had reached almost two and a half hours. In accordance with the council’s Constitution, the committee voted to extend the meeting in order to finish this item.

The committee considered planning application P22/S3602/S73 for the variation of condition 2 (approved plans) on planning application P22/S0537/FUL to consider the acceptability of constructing the proposed dwelling at existing ground level in light of additional support information in the form of a Landscape and Visual Technical Note. (As amplified by additional information received 02 December 2022). Erection of replacement dwelling with associated parking and landscaping. Erection of a replacement pool house, machinery store and gates, on land at Grove Hill Farm, Manor Road, Towersey.  

Consultations, representations, policy and guidance, and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report, which formed part of the agenda pack for the meeting. 

The planning officer introduced the report and highlighted that the application was brought to the committee due to the objection of Towersey Parish Council. The application sought to vary the existing permission for a replacement to an existing building with a larger building. The variation itself was to build the dwelling at ground level, rather than 1.4 metres sunk into the ground, thereby increasing the visible height of the building, and for the provision of new landscaping.

The planning officer informed the committee that the reason for the parish council’s objection was that the application increased the visual height of the dwelling and would therefore be detrimental to the landscape from public vantage points. The landscape officer however, believed that that revised landscaping scheme with the provision of new taller trees, would mitigate this impact and therefore the planning officer was satisfied that there would be no visual harm from the proposed variation.

For these reasons, the planning officer recommended that the application be approved, subject to conditions.

Councillor Mark Davies spoke on behalf of Towersey Parish Council, objecting to the application. 

Ciro Paradiso, the applicant, spoke in support of the application. 

The committee then asked about the exact change in height and the planning officer clarified that the proposed building would be 2.2 metres taller than existing building. Further to this, members were concerned that this increased height would mean that the proposed building would be more prominent on the skyline and therefore that the application would not meet the local plan policy requirement for replacement buildings to cause less harm that the building they were replacing.

The committee also discussed the revised landscaping in the application and, even though the landscape officer was satisfied that this mitigated some of visual impact of the increased building height, members considered that the time taken for the landscaping to take effect and the extent of the screening provided by the additional trees was simply not sufficient to mitigate the harm by the increase height and prominence of the building.

Overall, as members believed that this application would go against the local plan policy relating to replacement dwellings and that the increased prominence of the building would cause harm to the character of the area, they agreed that the application should be refused. 

A motion, moved and seconded, to refuse the application was carried on being put to the vote. 

RESOLVED: to refuse planning application P22/S3602/S73, for the following reasons:

The proposed development would result in a higher building on site, that would exceed the height of the existing buildings on the site and the previously approved development. As a result it would appear more visible and dominant in the local landscape to the detriment of the rural character and appearance of the area. As such, the proposed development would be contrary to Policies H18, DES1 and DES2 of the adopted South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035.