Pre-Application Advice offered the following advice regarding the proposal to develop the south-eastern corner of the garden at the property known as ‘Ainland’. In accordance with The Minister for Planning Environment’s car parking standards that four car parking spaces would be needed for the development. The height of the proposed building at 30ft (10 metres) seemed excessively high. It was recommended that the new structure respect the height of immediate dwellings surrounding the site and be kept to a minimum. Should a two storey building be acceptable the officer recommended that the roof be hipped to minimise the impact upon immediate neighbours. Concerns were raised by the Officer regarding the relationship of the proposed dwelling with the neighbouring property to the east known as ‘Livana’ as the proposals could potentially be harmful at such close proximity creating overlooking from proposed bedroom 2. Officer included sketch suggesting where on site he considered a building higher than a single storey might be acceptable. “This may prove to be either single-storey with accommodation in the roof or two-storey with roof, dependent upon the assessment of the issues raised”. Pre-Application Advice - 17 February 2005, relates to the proposed demolition of ‘Ainland’ details of which can be obtained in attached copy letter. Pre-Application Advice - 1 March 2005 offered the following advice regarding the proposal to develop the south-eastern corner of the garden at the property known as ‘Ainland’. Highlighted an uncertainty as to whether or not the proposed new dwelling would be higher than the neighbouring property to the east and asked for confirmation of this. Concerns regarding the height of the building in relation to the neighbouring property could be mitigated by hipping each of the three gables. It was recommended that the eastern window to bedroom 1 should be moved to the west elevation to prevent harm to neighbours to the east through overlooking. Based on pre-application advice offered regarding the demolition of Ainland and the creation of additional dwellings 4 no. car parking spaces per dwelling would need to be provided. Pre-Application Advice - 15 March 2005, offered further and more detailed advice regarding a hipped roof design for the scheme. (Please refer to letter dated 15th March 2005). Comments Representations were received from the residents of ‘Livana’ located to the East of ‘Ainland’. Their letters outlined concerns regarding the overpowering impact the development would create coupled with the incoherent and poor quality design the building would have within the surrounding context. The loss of privacy through direct overlooking was also of concern to the occupiers of ‘Livana’. The issues raised reinforced the concerns highlighted in Pre-Application advice. Conclusion Notwithstanding the comments of the agent’s request for reconsideration of 20th December 2005, it was apparent from the detailed planning application submitted for ‘Ainland’ that the issues raised in pre-application advice had been insufficiently addressed. Although elements of the design had been moulded to accommodate pre-application advice the issues of overall height, massing, overlooking and car parking had failed to demonstrate that the scheme, as proposed, would be successful in this location. Furthermore, the finished design demonstrated a scheme which struggled to fit into the physical constraints of the site and surrounding properties. A much reduced scheme in both height and mass with a greater design sensitivity may succeed on this site. It is recommended that the decision to refuse this scheme is upheld by The Minister for Planning and Environment as it is contrary to Policy G2 (iii), G3 (i) & H8 (viii) of the Jersey Island Plan, 2002. |