A Bath couple will be able to build an extension onto their house, despite objections from the rest of the terrace.
Tim and Karen Kidd applied to Bath & North East Somerset Council for planning permission to build an extension to their home on a modern terrace of five Georgian-style houses.
Planners recommended that the permission be granted, but the proposals were sent to the council’s planning committee on 23rd August after the rest of the terrace lodged objections.
Speaking on behalf of the terrace, former councillor Bob Goodman told the planning committee that the extension would “overshadow” the existing smaller extension of a house on one side, and “tower above the garden” of the neighbours on the other side.
He said: “In my opinion, the extension will take up so much space that, if approved with others in the future, it may well cause harm to the outstanding universal nature of the wider world heritage status.
“Make no mistake, other large extension applications will follow that will cause issues with the world heritage site.”
He added: “The suggestion that it is in keeping to have a four-bedroom house all with en suites and a small garden which you cannot swing a cat in, is in my opinion, disingenuous.”
Karen Kidd said she was “saddened” by the opposition they had faced from their neighbours, telling the committee: “We were careful to design something that fitted in with the neighbouring houses and the surrounding area and limited the impact on our neighbours.
“We also involved our neighbours in the process so we were saddened to read their objections, which we hope we have responded to.”
She said: “Like a number of our neighbours, we now feel our home could be better designed to suit our needs. The proposed extension would give us the best configured living and sleeping space for family and friends in years to come.”
The extension would take up about half of the garden and cover the full width of the house, and would accommodate more living and dining space.
A representative for the Kidds told the meeting: “The extension has been designed to maximise the internal accommodation whilst being very careful to limit the impact on neighbours and the surrounding area.”
Widcombe and Lyncombe councillors Alison Born and Deborah Collins, in whose ward the terrace lies, visited the neighbours’ gardens.
Ms Born said: “We found that the plans and drawings alone do not give a full impression of how overbearing the extension would be for the neighbours and would urge the committee not to grant approval without having visited the site themselves.”
But a motion to defer the decision on whether to grant planning permission and to go on a site visit was voted down.
At 3.8 metres long, the extension is only 80 centimetres longer than can legally be built under permitted development rights without needing planning permission.
Councillor Tim Warren told the council: “The reality is, if you can build it anyway or build very close to it anyway, I’d have a job to refuse it.”
But councillor Lucy Hodge argued: “I think even a point eight of a metre makes quite a difference in terms of impact on the neighbours.”
A motion to refuse planning permission was also voted down, and the committee then voted to grant planning permission.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
