St Helens Road: Plans for home extension refused

Two extensions were proposed at 509 St Helens Road, one to the western side of the house and one to the eastern side which also extends to the rear however they have been refused by the planning committee.

The plans were brought before the committee on Thursday February 23 by Cllr Shafi Patel, citing that a similar rear extension was approved at the property in 2018.

According to planning officers, the height of the eastern extension has been reduced since the previous application, but the extension would continue to project six metres from the rear of the house which would fail what is referred to in policy guidance as the 45-degree rule.

The extension would impinge upon a line drawn up to a 45-degree angle from the centre of the patio doors at the neighbour’s property at 507.

The patio doors serve a dining area and therefore the doors had to be considered as a main room.

The proposed plans for 509 St Helens Road (Image: Bolton Council)

Officers consider that the siting, length, and height of the rear part of the proposed extension would have an undue impact on the residential amenity of the neighbours at 507 St Helens Road, reducing natural light for the neighbour.

Members were recommended to refuse the application.

A spokesman on behalf of the applicant spoke at the planning meeting.

He said: “Members have two schemes in front of them, the first that was submitted with the original planning application and the second which shows the recent amendments.

“I would like members to give consideration to three points, firstly the original scheme is near identical to a scheme approved in 2018 the reason why officers now find the very same proposals unacceptable comes down to the way the neighbour has arranged furniture, expect for the rearranged furniture there has been no changes since 2018 to the neighbouring property nor is the proposed development any different.

“The amended scheme shows a ridge height of 1.2 metres lower and an eaves height of 0.8 metres lower than that of 2018.

“The revised scheme will barely be visible from inside the property.

“Paragraph 4.15 of the housing extension SPD states longer extensions may well be acceptable where they do not cause significant overshadowing of the main room windows in neighbouring properties.

“The revised scheme falls significantly short of that significant overshadowing threshold.

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“Thirdly, the proposed extension will only project 4.8 metres beyond the rear face of the neighbouring property, arguably 0.8 metres beyond the four-metre threshold.

“That 0.8 metres is the basis of the recommendation for refusal, that 0.8 metres will barely be visible above the fence line and will therefore fall well short of the significant overshadowing threshold.”

Cllr Marie Brady said due to planning officers’ comments on it impinging the 45-degree rule she would refuse to approve application.

The committee threw out the application.