A Certificate of Lawfulness application 3366/22/CLP for the proposed construction of two outbuildings for incidental use was previously certified on the 3rd April 2023. You can read the Society's objection to that application here.

That Certificate is now being used to justify this application. But in our view the proposed construction of two outbuildings for incidental fails to constitute a material planning consideration for alterations to an existing dwelling and extensions of that dwelling. And when an earlier application 0293/22/FUL was refused on the 29th March 2022, the decision notice concluded 'The proposal would result in a larger dwelling in a parish which already has an over-provision of large, under-occupied dwellings. It would therefore exacerbate an existing imbalance in the local housing stock.'

We also detail other reasons why the application should be refused, not least our belief the local planning authority should be consistent in its decision making.

Unfortunately neither our nor the Parish Council's objections made any difference. The applicant's agent would appear to have successfully exploited Permitted Development Rights to overcome the previous refusal and justify both the increase in size of the house and 'the increase in glazing which will be more visible in comparison to the existing dwelling but indicated (by the applicant) to be less than the level achieved under permitted development'.

The application was approved.