Parish council's concerns fail to stop home extension plans being approved in Studley

Concerns that neighbours of an extended Studley house could be plunged into fuel poverty due to the lack of daylight into their home have failed to stop the plans from being approved.

At yesterday, Wednesday’s meeting of Stratford District Council’s planning committee, Cllr Andrew Rainbow of Studley Parish Council, called for proposals to add a two-storey side and rear extension and a single-storey rear extension to 15 St Martins Avenue to be rejected.

He said: “Our objections are based around three material considerations. Firstly we believe it is overbearing in its current form and, being two-storey, it will affect the neighbouring property.

“There is another material consideration with the significant loss of daylight to the adjoining property and the third impact is the overbearing density of the extension which increases the footprint by eight per cent.

“We also believe that the loss of actual daylight will force the neighbour to switch their lights on and, with the negative impact with energy that this country is currently suffering, we believe that this could potentially put the neighbour into some kind of fuel poverty in the long term.”

Ward member Cllr Peter Hencher-Serafin (Lib Dem, Studley with Mappleborough Green) also opposed the plans, adding that the neighbours were distraught with the prospect of having the extension built up to their boundary.

But Gary Phillips, the applicant’s agents, doubted whether there would be a loss of daylight once the extension was built.

He said: “We have spent quite a considerable time with officers trying to mitigate residents’ concerns and there have been some amendments to the single-storey element. There is no overshadowing and there are lots of precedents in the road.”

Members of the planning committee voted unanimously to approve the plans. Cllr Danny Kendall (Con, Wellesbourne West) said: “I have seen this in my own ward where houses get much bigger and expand out sideways. Parish councils get upset and worried about the nature of terracing and I sort of understand that.

“But this is not breaking our policy, I do not see the loss of light as an issue and I cannot find any substantial planning grounds to go against the officer's recommendation so I am happy to grant.”