A DEVELOPER has launched an appeal to the government to overturn a council decision to stop him from building a ‘minimalist’ home.
Plans for a two-storey two-bedroom white ‘minimalist’ home in Waverley Street were rejected and the appeal is an attempt to overrule planners at Worcester City Council.
Developer Stephen Rendle has twice-attempted to get planning permission for the ‘modern’ home and has been refused both times on the grounds the design was out-of-character and “inappropriate” for the area.
But the rejection comes despite the council allowing a building of a similar design to be built around 300 metres away in Diglis Lane.
Planners said the ‘cramped and contrived’ home would be overdevelopment of the land as well as overbearing and would result in neighbours losing privacy.
Council planners said the design of the home was “wholly incongruous” with the rest of the buildings in the street and would be “uncomfortably oppressive” for neighbours.
“In the opinion of the local planning authority the erection of a dwelling on the site as proposed would constitute inappropriate overdevelopment of the site that would also unacceptably compromise the established character and appearance of the site and surrounding area and standards of residential amenity for both the neighbouring residents and future residents,” a report outlining the council’s rejection said.
Mr Rendle, of Droitwich-based Wentworth Restoration and Construction, appealed to the government planning inspectorate after council planners rejected his application in January.
He had reduced the size of the building by one storey, after an initial plan was rejected the previous May.
One neighbour had raised an objection to both plans saying she would feel “hemmed in” by the new home.
“Despite the revised plans for this dwelling there will still be a feeling of being hemmed which will create a big problem for us in our property,” the neighbour in Cavendish Street said.
“The proximity of the property to the boundaries, the window on the side of the house and also a balcony on the rear would directly overlook our much-used garden.
“This would lead to a feeling of great discomfort in our home and I feel would impact on neighbours in properties next to mine also. The revised design is still out of character with other properties in the road and, with the majority being rear gardens, would completely change the look of the road.”
Highways officers at Worcestershire County Council raised no objection.
