Cllr. Martin Osborne

BH2021/02656 – 184 Saunders Hill

14^th September 2021:

Stance: Customer objects to the Planning Application

Comment Reasons:

 - Overdevelopment

 - Residential Amenity

Comment: Unfortunately, I can't support this application for several reasons.

Firstly, it is building on top of the grassed area at the back of the house. This is a really nice area which residents can enjoy but by building over this you will have a knock on effect on the amenity and enjoyment of residents in the house. I would imagine that should residents want to sit outside, they would transfer to other areas, perhaps the front which may be more detrimental to the wider area. Also, the plans are looking to extend to the limits of the ownership by removing the dense foliage/self-seeded invasive species area, including a few trees, at the back of the house, both detrimental to biodiversity and further building outwards.

Secondly, the layout changes on the ground floor are removing living space for the residents, with the application moving the kitchen into a new open plan living room, the dining room becoming another bedroom and table/chairs there moving into the conservatory, with a small WC/shower room added at the front. This is all to squeeze in an extra bedroom at the cost of the amenity of the tenant's living there.

Finally, the loft and garage conversions are further examples of overdevelopment. These are spaces which are currently not used for living in and although conversions can be nice places to live if done well, the proposed lost conversion wouldn't be the nicest place to sleep/work given the dimensions and the heat this room would be exposed to nearly all day. The garage conversion

would provide a better standard of accommodation and more acceptable but would still need to access the main house, increasing comings and goings between the house and this outbuilding.

Overall, this application is extreme overdevelopment and I'd like to see it refused. The affect of increasing from 6 to 11 bedrooms will be detrimental for those living there and for the wider area.

Please could this application be brought to planning committee to be determined by councillors.