Described on the Council’s decision notice as ‘Conversion of garage to habitable room, construction of part single, part two storey side and rear wrap around extension and loft conversion with 1No rear dormer with Juliet balcony and 2No roof lights at front roof together with roof alteration from hip end to gable end. Replacement of windows and front door to front elevation. ’ Decision
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Extensions
Policy Weight
Character & Appearance
Inspector’s Reasoning
Appeal Decision
Site visit made on 22 July 2025
by Alison Fish BA (Hons) Dip TP MRTPI
an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State
Decision date: 13 August 2025
Appeal Ref: 6000188
20 Rennets Wood Road, Eltham, Greenwich SE9 2ND
• The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended)
against a refusal to grant planning permission.
• The appeal is made by Mr Ibrahim Oruc against the decision of the Council of the Royal London
Borough of Greenwich.
• The application Ref is 24/4072/HD.
• The development proposed is described on the Council’s decision notice as ‘Conversion of garage to
habitable room, construction of part single, part two storey side and rear wrap around extension and
loft conversion with 1No rear dormer with Juliet balcony and 2No roof lights at front roof together with
roof alteration from hip end to gable end. Replacement of windows and front door to front elevation. ’
Decision
1. The appeal is dismissed.
Preliminary Matters
2. I have taken the description from the Council’s decision notice as it more accurately
reflects the proposal before me but have omitted words ‘fully retrospective’ as this
is not an act of development. Moreover, I saw that the work which had taken place
on site did not wholly comply with the submitted drawings. For example, the
fenestration to the dormer window does not align with the fenestration below. I have
determined the appeal on the basis of the application drawings.
3. As part of the appeal submissions, the appellant included a set of revised
drawings1 which they say were submitted to the Council on 13 February 2025
during the determination of the planning application. The drawings show the dormer
window on the rear being extended in width so that it would be inset symmetrically
from each side of the roof. The Council has confirmed that it did not consider these
revised drawings and they have not been the subject of public consultation. The
Council determined the application in accordance with the application drawings2
and for reasons which I set out in my decision, so shall I.
Main Issue
4. The main issue in this appeal is the effect of the proposed development on the
character and appearance of the host dwelling and wider area.
1 Drawing numbers: 1515-11B; 1515-13B and 1515-16B
2 Including Drawing numbers: 1515-11A; 1515-13A and 1515-16A
Appeal Decision 6000188
2
Reasons
5. The appeal site is one half of a semi-detached pair of houses located in a
residential area, comprising predominantly of semi-detached pairs of dwellings
under a hipped roof.
6. The hip to gable roof alteration which has taken place at the appeal property, but
not at the neighbouring dwelling, unbalances the semi-detached pair of dwellings.
Nonetheless, I saw a number of examples where the semi-detached pairs are no
longer symmetrical together with examples of properties with a gable end roof.
7. In addition, my attention has been drawn to other properties which have the benefit
of planning permission by virtue of the Town and Country Planning (General
Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 to carry out similar works3 as
permitted development. These post-date the previous Inspector’s site visit. I also
saw that work was underway at No. 264 to provide a gable end roof with a flat roof
dormer on the rear, in much the same way as proposed in this appeal.
8. Whilst not all the schemes with permission will necessarily be implemented, the
evidence before me indicates that three of these have been implemented since the
previous Inspector visited the appeal site. This is a material change in circumstance
since the previous appeal which has resulted in a mix of roof types particularly in
the vicinity of the appeal site and a number of unbalanced semi-detached pairs. As
a result, the hip to gable roof alteration would not appear incongruous or out of
place in this overall context.
9. The rear dormer would have windows aligned with the fenestration in the floor
below. However, it is not aligned symmetrically on the roof slope and the scale and
bulk of the dormer, extending across much of the width of the rear roof slope, is
such that it dominates the roof. My findings align with those of the previous
Inspector5 in this respect. Whilst dormer windows can be installed as permitted
development, the dormer in this case is part of the overall proposals at the property
so planning permission is required. Accordingly, the proposal falls to be determined
in accordance with the development plan and I have not given any weight to this as
a potential fallback position.
10. Even if I accepted the revised drawings which show the dormer window positioned
centrally and symmetrically on the roof, they also indicate the dormer would be
larger than the one on the drawings before me. Accordingly, the revised drawings
would not address my concerns about the scale and bulk of the dormer window.
11. Therefore, I conclude that conflict would arise with Policy D3 of The London Plan,
adopted March 2021 and Policies DH1 and DH(a) of the Royal Greenwich Local
Plan Core Strategy with Detailed Policies adopted July 2014 which seek high
quality development of a scale and design which is appropriate to the building and
locality.
3 Including Numbers 18, 21, 33 and 53 Rennets Wood Road
4 LPA Ref; 22/2827/CLP
5 Appeal Ref: APP/E5330/D/22/3309522 20 Rennets Wood Road, Eltham, Greenwich SE9 2ND Garage conversion to habitable
room, erection of part single and part two storey side and rear extension and loft conversion with 1No rear dormer and 2No roof
light at front together with roof alteration from hip end to gable end.
Appeal Decision 6000188
3
Conclusion
12. The proposed development would be contrary to the development plan and there
are no material considerations that outweigh this conflict. Consequently, with
reference to s38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the appeal
is dismissed.
Alison Fish
INSPECTOR
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