Hi @gorgarellagorgarella wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:43 amIt’s totally daft to say these houses are being ruined. Hundreds of thousands of them got put up at speed with no foundations, no indoor loos, no plumbing or electricity to house people. Anyway, it’s not the side return extensions that are problematic, it’s the pod on the back of houses.
Back to the original post, though, Lambeth has recently done the same - saying they have been interpreting the PD rules incorrectly all along. Apparently some appeals are about to start, and I’ve been told that if you can show there is a pattern of these along your streets, they may say you can do it. Beware an architect who doesn’t inform you of this (it either means they don’t know about the issue or will take your money even if they do.)
It is completely bonkers though.
ASG - so glad someone else is finally trying to make people aware of this change!!!ASG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2019 1:16 pmHi residents of Wandsworth,
We just wanted to share this information with you as it may affect many of you who are looking to extend your properties in the near future.
Residents of Wandsworth Borough have for many years happily lived with the most pragmatic and sensible Planning Department in London – unfortunately this has now changed. It has, for at least the last 10 years, been possible to add a good amount of extra accommodation in roof extensions by using a combination of Planning and Permitted Development rules. This week the Planning Department have suddenly, without consultation and without any change in policy, started to refuse the Permitted Development part of these applications – the so called “pod” extension over the rear. This means that anyone looking to maximise the living space they can add to their roof will have their application refused – even if their neighbours and other houses on the street have exactly the same type of extension! This will drastically affect not only the amount of extra space you can add to your house but also, of course, the additional value. We would suggest that every resident of Wandsworth contacts their local Councillor as soon as possible to complain about this summary change before it is too late. Please contact us for further details.
If you would like any more information about this, please feel free to contact us on the following:
info@architecturalservicesgroup.com https://architecturalservicesgroup.com/02073819149
Lambeth are using a different Appeal decision to base their refusals on (the Natal Rd one mentioned) to Wandsworth, who are using an Oxford City decision and one (in our view very different case) in Wandsworth. The difference is quite technical - involving different clauses of the General Permitted Development Order but, essentially, Wandsworth are treating the large pod extensions as an extra floor rather than a roof extension. In practical terms this means they may still allow some Permitted Development pods but, again in our view, it then becomes a subjective decision as to how big an extension constitutes an "extra floor" - and the PD rules are meant to be non-subjective! So, in fact, it is very difficult to answer the question "What is it exactly that Wandsworth isn’t allowing then?", in conversations with them they don't seem entirely clear themselves.gorgarella wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:55 amThanks for your reply. What is it exactly that Wandsworth isn’t allowing then? I’m not clear how it’s different from Lambeth?