Cllr. John Allcock

BH2022/01629 – 64, 66, 68 And 68A Old Shoreham Road

30^th June 2022:

This is the third application submitted for 68 Old Shoreham within a relatively short period of time.

· BH2021/03419 the first application was rejected by planning in 2021 and then appealed but subsequently withdrawn.

· BH2022/00142 the second application was withdrawn, possibly because the applicant thought it was unlikely to be approved.

Oddly, the owners of no 64, 66 and 68A objected strenuously to previous applications put forward by the owner of no 68 Old Shoreham Road but include themselves as part of this application. Interestingly the owner of no 66 commented that the extra storey(s) implicit in application BH2021/03419 would ‘impact on local amenity, incursion into privacy’ and be ‘highly controversial and potentially hugely damaging to our area’. Yet by participating in this application along with the other properties has magnified the impact by four.

The plans for this new application - BH2022/01629 align closely to those in the first two applications that were rejected/withdrawn. These include:

· extensions to the existing buildings that would adversely impact on the privacy and access to sunlight for neighbouring properties,

· exterior design that would make the buildings out of character with the local area.

Plans to increase the footprint of 66 and 68 Old Shoreham would bring the properties closer to the road making an overwhelming and more dominant ‘block’ of buildings being out of character with the street scene which is primarily detached one to two storey houses.

This would be further exacerbated by plans to increase the roof height to add an additional storey to each building (a key reasons why application BH2021/03419 was rejected for no 68 alone).

The increase of additional storey to all four properties (and some second floor balconies) would also have a greater negative impact on amenity of neighbouring properties that are mainly low-rise family homes and quiet gardens that would be overlooked and lose privacy if the plans are approved. Specifically:

· homes in Caister’s Close;

· 62 Old Shoreham Road (next to the proposed development);

· 106 – 112 The Drive; and

· properties on the other side of Old Shoreham Road (19 – 31 Old Shoreham Road).

For these reasons I ask that that this application is referred to the Planning Committee where I would also like to be speak.