Shrewley family's hopes of extending flat above business dashed by council

A family’s hopes to extend the flat above their village business have been shattered after the plans were thrown out by councillors.

Local residents and the parish council had supported the application to extend the living accommodation above Shrewley Post Office along with adding new ground floor rooms but council planners said the increase in size was too much for the green belt.

Members at Tuesday's planning committee of Warwick District Council refused permission after hearing that the plans, along with previous extensions, would have more than doubled the size of the premises on Shrewley Common.

Planning officer Sandip Sahota said: “The property has had a number of extensions over the years, I think we are in the region of 60 per cent at the moment.

“The proposed extension, taken with the existing ones, takes it to around 133 per cent - the policy guidance is 30 per cent in the green belt.

“The officers are of the view that it is inappropriate development in the green belt which would be harmful by definition.”

The plan would have seen an extra bedroom added to the four-bedroom flat and enlarged the living space. Downstairs there would have been a staff restroom, canteen and a larger kitchen.

And while Mr Sahota questioned the need for the larger kitchen and welfare areas, the chairman of Shrewley Parish Council spoke in favour of the application.

Cllr Robert Westbury said: “We feel that there is a strong business and community reason to support this application.

“It is both a Post Office and village shop, open for long hours and staffed mostly by the family. It is a growing family - the son has two young children - they need enlarged accommodation to stay on site. The storage is pretty ramshackle at the moment and this would be a major improvement for them.

“From nowhere in the parish can you see the rear of this building clearly - it will not impact in our opinion on the openness of the green belt.”

Cllr Westbury also referred to an extension that was granted at the neighbouring Durham Ox pub which is also in the green belt.

But Cllr Terry Morris (Con, Warwick Saltisford) said the circumstances were different. He explained: “This is not about the financial viability of the shop, this is about the understandable desire for the family to live on site. The viability of the pub did rest on having that extension.”

Councillors expressed sympathy for the applicant but voted to refuse permission.

Cllr Martyn Ashford (Con, Warwick Aylesford) said: “I feel we are going down a very dangerous road. If we were to grant this then that would open the floodgates to similar applications.”

And Cllr Jerry Weber (Lab, Leamington Clarendon) added: “I feel the increase to 133 per cent is not acceptable on planning grounds. I would hope the applicant could perhaps come back with a slightly different increase in percentage because we might look at the application differently.”