Plans to extend a detached property at Midford near Bath and add a swimming pool have been approved.
Single and two-storey extensions to the rear and side of Beeches at Old Midford Road will be erected following the demolition of a conservatory.
The scheme also includes an open-air swimming pool and pool building in an extended garden area.
The site is in the Green Belt. South Stoke Parish Council had objected to the proposals, expressing concern that the volume increase on the original building is well beyond the accepted norm.
Another concern was the pool development being outside the property’s existing garden.
The application had been referred by Bathavon South ward councillors Matt McCabe and Fiona Gourley to both the chair and vice chair of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee, who concluded that the application should remain delegated with officers.
Council planners said the extensions to the house, which dates from 1935, would result in a 32% volume increase.
When the previous additions from 1998 and 2002 are included and combined cumulatively with what is now proposed, it results in a total increase of 43%.
The officers’ report explained: “Whilst this figure is over the 33% guide, it is important to note that it is just this, a guide.
“When the site context, the visual and spatial aspects of the built works are taken into account together, officers do not consider these to be disproportionate, nor harmful to the main objectives of the Green Belt.”
The report added that the swimming pool and outbuilding would be on land owned by the applicant and that council policy enables proposals to extend residential garden land, provided there are no adverse impacts.
The officers said the creation of a swimming pool in the Green Belt is acceptable, and the proposed small outbuilding next to the pool is also appropriate development.
