First floor sun room

Appeal Decision Site visit made on 23 July 2019 by M Cryan BA(Hons) DipTP MSc MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 9 October 2019 Appeal Ref: APP/M0933/D/19/3229358 Parkside, Hale, Milnthorpe LA7 7BL • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant planning permission. • The appeal is made by Mr and Mrs Eden against the decision of South Lakeland District Council. • The application Ref SL/2019/0205, dated 8 March 2019, was refused by notice dated 3 May 2019. • The development proposed is a first floor sun room. Decision 1. The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for a first floor sun room at Parkside, Hale, Milnthorpe LA7 7BL in accordance with the terms of the application, Ref SL/2019/0205, dated 8 March 2019, subject to the following conditions: 1) The development hereby permitted shall begin not later than 3 years from the date of this decision. 2) The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: 21711-06, 21711-07 and 21711-08. 3) The external surfaces of the development hereby permitted shall be constructed in the materials described in the application form and shown on plan nos. 21711-06 and 21711-07, and shall be maintained as such thereafter. Main Issue 2. The main issue is the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the host property and the surrounding area, having particular regard to the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Reasons 3. The appeal site is a detached barn conversion dwelling, situated at the north western end of the small village of Hale. The appeal site and wider settlement lie within the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (the AONB). Parkside is approached by road from the south east and is the last dwelling served by Back Lane. There are also public footpaths running at or close to the to the northern, western and southern boundaries of the appeal site. Appeal Decision APP/M0933/D/19/3229358 2 4. The proposed development is the erection of an elevated sun room to replace an existing steel balcony on the dwelling’s north western elevation. The sun room would protrude from the building at a 45 degree angle, and would be finished in horizontal untreated larch cladding with a locally-quarried slate roof. The support columns would be clad in oak, with open space at ground level beneath the extension. 5. While the sun room would be a contemporary addition to the original building, it would also reflect many features and characteristics of the existing dwelling, including its oak-framed windows and pitched slate roof, as well as the south western elevation’s double-height glazed main entranceway. The extension would not be unduly large, and the use of timber cladding would emphasise the sun room’s subordinate status to the original stone-built barn, as well as echoing the use of timber cladding elsewhere on the appeal site. Leaving the larch cladding untreated as proposed would allow the extension to weather and adapt to complement the host building and landscape. 6. The settlement of Hale incorporates a wide range of building types and materials from different times, so while there is undoubtedly a local vernacular tradition, there is also a considerable breadth of style and detail in the village. Within this context, the proposed design and choice of materials for the sun room represent an appropriate response to the characteristics of both the appeal site and the village as a whole. 7. The sun room’s location on the north west elevation of Parkside means that it would not be visible from Back Lane or other dwellings within Hale, and it would play no part in the appeal site’s immediate street scene. It would, however, be seen from the public footpaths surrounding the appeal site, although topography and tree cover would limit views to some extent. In most views from these footpaths the sun room would, when visible at all, be set against the backdrop of the existing dwelling and so its impact would be reduced. The land falls away to the north, where drivers heading south east on the A6 would have distant views of the sun room from a range of 300 metres and more. For the most part these would be likely to be fleeting glimpses from moving vehicles, and again the sun room would be seen set against the backdrop of the existing dwelling. The development would therefore not be dominant or intrusive in either close range or longer distance public views. 8. The National Planning Policy Framework emphasises at paragraph 172 the importance of conserving and enhancing the landscape and scenic beauty of AONBs. The small scale of the sun room, its design and choice of materials, and the fact that in most public views it would appear set against the backdrop of the existing dwelling, means that the proposal would not harm the rural landscape or the scenic beauty of the AONB. 9. Policy CS8.2 of the 2010 South Lakeland Core Strategy (the Core Strategy), and Policies AS02 and AS08 of the 2019 Arnside and Silverdale AONB Development Plan Document give high priority to protecting and enhancing landscape and settlement character. Views into and from the AONB would be maintained, and the character of the settlement would be conserved, and I therefore consider that there would be no conflict with these policies. The proposed sun room would also comply with Core Strategy Policy CS8.10 and Policy DM2 of the 2017 South Lakeland Development Management Policies Appeal Decision APP/M0933/D/19/3229358 3 Development Plan Document, which seek to ensure that development has high standards of design. Conditions 10. In addition to the standard time limit condition I have specified the approved plans so as to provide certainty. In order to protect the character and appearance of the host dwelling and the AONB I have also included a condition requiring the materials described on the application form and in the approved plans to be used for the sun room and maintained as such. Conclusion 11. For the reasons given above, and having had regard to all other relevant matters raised I conclude that the proposal complies with the development plan as a whole, and the appeal should be allowed. M Cryan Inspector