Raise roof of garage to create new room for home office use

Appeal Decision Site visit made on 14 September 2026 by P J Staddon BSc, Dip, MBA (Distinction), MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 23 September 2026 Appeal Ref: 6013042 45 Brightstowe Road, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, TA8 2HP • 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 D Souch against the decision of Somerset Council. • The application Ref is 11/25/00119. • The development proposed is ‘raise roof of garage to create new room for home office use.’ Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Main Issue 2. The main issue is the effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the area. Reasons 3. The appeal property is a detached single-storey dwelling situated at the southern end of Brightstowe Road. The dwelling sits towards the rear of its plot, beyond which is a public footpath. In the south-east corner of the plot, there is a double width garage, which has a shallow pitched roof covering most of the building, but with a lower conservatory style roof structure over the rearmost part, abutting the rear boundary wall, which is about 2 metres high and built in blockwork. 4. The appeal proposal would extend the garage building upwards to create a first- floor area for use as a home office, accessed internally by a proposed staircase from the garage. The submitted Design and Access Statement explains that the raised side walls would be faced in matching brickwork, and the end walls in composite cladding. A pitched tiled roof structure would cover the enlarged building, with gable ends at the front (north) and rear (south) facing the footpath. The home office space would be lit by 3 rooflights in the west roof plane and a small window in the middle of the front gable wall. 5. I have noted carefully the appellant’s submissions concerning the difference in land levels on the site, the presence of two-storey dwellings in the vicinity, including those to the south and east, the limited height increase proposed, and the relatively discrete and tucked away location of the garage building, such that it is not prominent in the streetscene. Appeal Decision 6013042 2 6. However, in my assessment the height and scale of the appeal proposal will jar with its immediate surroundings and context. That context is characterised by distinctly low-rise single-storey dwellings, with discrete and subservient garages either with flat or shallow-pitched roofs. I did not observe any 2-storey development in the immediately surrounding context north of the public footpath, and this area has a strongly defined and coherent character. Introducing a taller and relatively bulky 2-storey outbuilding would appear out of character and discordant in this context. 7. Whilst acknowledging that public views of the proposal from Brightstowe Road would be limited, the building would be visible from the public footpath, which appears to be well used (a number of people passed me during my visit) and there are no other 2-storey buildings along the north side of this stretch of the lane. It will also be visible from neighbouring properties. In these views, I assess that the proposal would appear as an oddity and out of character with its immediate context. 8. Policy D2 of the Sedgemoor Local Plan (2011-2032) (adopted February 2019) promotes high-quality design which, amongst other matters, requires designs to be responsive to local context, character, scale and distinctiveness of place. I assess that the appeal proposal conflicts with these statutory development plan policy requirements. 9. For the reasons set out above, the appeal is dismissed. P. Staddon INSPECTOR