A homeowner refused permission by East Cambridgeshire District Council for a car port, has had the ruling overturned by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate.
Planning inspector Andrew Boughton kicked into touch what he summarised as the district council’s suggestion “that the proposed design would detract from the high design quality of the host dwelling”.
He also dismissed the council’s argument that the car port “is a ‘suburban’ feature with an inappropriate ‘flat’ roof with harmful impacts on character and appearance of the host dwelling and the surrounding area”.
Mr Boughton said: “Having considered the council’s criticism of the scheme I consider the proposal has a number of benefits and positive aspects which have not been taken into account.
“These include the way the proposed ancillary structure would tend to reduce the visual impact of vehicles parked behind the existing low perimeter fence in the prominent corner location,” he said.
He also felt the flat, ‘green-roofed’ structure would retain and not undermine the prominent and architecturally dominant gabled roof profile of the main house.
Mr Boughton said the car port would tend to support the distinctive appearance of the house and its neighbour in a ‘farmyard grouping’ development pattern.
“Overall, I consider the proposal to be a well-considered design solution,” he said.
The car port would “respect landscape and complement local distinctiveness”.
The application for the car port was made by Steven Khan and he lodged the appeal after East Cambs planners ruled against it last December.
He simply wanted covered parking for two existing car spaces at his home in Hill Farm View, Dullingham, near Newmarket.
Planners argued that the car port “fails to be sympathetic to the character of the surrounding area and does not have a complementary relationship with the host dwelling”.
The house was part of a six approved by the council (four of which were new semi-detached homes, one owned by Mr Khan) and an existing barn converted to create two others. Mr Khan’s one and half storey semi-detached home was built using black steel cladding to have a similar appearance to a barn
Planners argued that that “the introduction of a car port in this development would detract from the high-quality development.
“Whilst it is noted that the proposed development is contemporary, it is not in keeping with the established design of the rural barn like dwellings.
“This therefore erodes the rural character of the countryside as a car port is considered to be a suburban feature in a rural location
“The proposed development would be located on an important corner/ junction of the proposed development that is highly prominent from Station Road.
“This would break the existing established pattern of development along Station Road.
The existing dwelling is set back from the road to ensure that open character of the countryside is retained, and development is not hard on the road boundary.”
Planners added the car port would create an out of character development.
“The car port would be a simple design that fails to be sympathetic to the high-quality modern host dwelling and the existing open characteristic of the street scene therefore this would be an out of place, awkward development,” they argued.
“The proposal demonstrates limited architectural understanding of the host dwelling and wider area of this development and how this should be expanded.
“The proposed materials would be timber for the structure and a green flat roof. The host dwelling has a gable feature facing onto the road; therefore, the flat roof element would fail to respect the existing host dwelling and would not be complementary.
“Therefore, it is considered that the proposed carport would have an adverse impact on the existing character of the street scene and the character of the host dwelling and would result in visual harm.”
They added that the car port “fails to be policy compliant and is recommended for refusal”.
The council’s chief planning agreed but that has now been thrown out on appeal.
Dullingham parish council told East Cambs Council they did not object to the car port.
