Appeal 3273328
Public case and site metadata stored from the official casework database, including fields that were empty in the source release.
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Official decision document
The decision, section by section
6 sections
Read the development description and the Inspector’s text from the official decision PDF in source order. Source headings are retained where available. Personal and contact details are removed by an automated privacy filter; this is source material, not Rules for You analysis.
Section 01
Development description
loft conversion, roof alterations to the main roof and the roof over the recently approved side extension including installation of one roof light to the front slope.
Section 02
Decision
The appeal is dismissed.
Section 03
[name]
The Council’s reason for refusing the application refers to Policies 7.4 and 7.6 of the London Plan (2016), which relate to the quality of design and its appropriateness in terms of the local context. That plan has since been superseded by the London Plan 2021 (LP) published in March 2021. Policy D3 of the LP sets similar requirements for development with respect to the quality of design. I have therefore determined the appeal with regard to Policy D3 and am satisfied that neither party will be caused an injustice by taking this approach.
Section 04
Main Issue
The main issue is the effect of the proposed development upon the character and appearance of the building and area.
Section 05
Reasons
[name] mainly comprises 2 storey semi-detached and terraced housing. The appeal site is an end house in a terrace of 6 properties. Similarly sized terraces in the vicinity of the appeal site have hipped roofs at each end, as is the case with the appeal property and the house at the opposite end of its terrace.
The proposal is to add a gambrel roof to an existing side extension, linked to the main roof to enable the loft to be extended and converted. The appellant claims that the design is intended to reflect that of housing opposite the appeal site. However, the housing opposite comprises a very different design to that of the host dwelling and adjoining houses, as do other houses which the appellant cites with alternative roof forms.
The proposed gambrel roof would be at odds with the hipped roof it would replace, and with the hipped roof at the other end of the terrace. As such it would unbalance the appearance of the terrace and be out of character with other, similarly sized, terraces within the street. Consequently, the host dwelling would appear out of place and incongruous.
Overall, I consider that the proposed development would harm the character and appearance of the host property and wider street scene and as such the proposal would conflict with Policy D3 of the LP, Policy CS14 of the London Borough of Merton LDF Core Planning Strategy (2011) and Policies DMD2 and DMD3 of [name] and Policies Plan and [name] (2014) which require development to reinforce and enhance the local character of the area and ensure that roof forms respect the characteristics of the area.
Section 06
Conclusion
For the reasons given above I conclude that the appeal should be dismissed.
Planning inspector and document dates
The official casework attribution is grouped under a one-way keyed hash and shown only by its local identifier. Decision-letter dates and page references are extracted by fixed first-page rules and checked against that authoritative record.
Appeal Decision
- Extracted inspector · page 1
- Inspector attribution ID 128No official casework-database value to compare
- Extracted decision date · page 1
- 6 September 2021Matches the official casework database
- Extracted site visit dates
- 24 August 2021 (page 1)
Reference and authority
Official identifiers and the planning authority recorded against this case.
- Case reference
- 3273328
- Application reference
- 20/P3801
- Lead case reference
- Not recorded
- Planning authority
- London Borough of Merton
- Planning authority code
- E09000024
Casework details
The casework, procedure, development and linking details supplied by the official record.
- Casework type
- Householder (HAS)
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development type
- Householder developments
- Appeal type reason
- 1. Refused planning permission
- Appeal reason
- Refusal
- Type detail
- Planning Appeals - Full
- Jurisdiction
- Transferred
- Link status
- Not Linked
Site and development
Published appeal-site measurements and planning designations, without the withheld precise location fields.
- Site area
- Not recorded
- Floor space
- Not recorded
- Number of residences
- 1
- Site in Green Belt
- No
- Agricultural holding
- No
- Affects setting of a listed building
- Not recorded
- Historic building grant made
- Not recorded
- Relates to a conservation area
- Not recorded
- Flooding is an issue
- Not recorded
- Site within an AONB
- Not recorded
- Site within an SSSI
- Not recorded
Decision and dates
The published outcome and every imported case date.
- Official decision
- Dismissed
- Decision category
- Dismissed
- Received date
- 19 April 2021
- Valid date
- 19 April 2021
- Start date
- 29 June 2021
- Planning authority decision date
- 25 January 2021
- Appeal decision date
- 6 September 2021
Case administration
Published recovery, call-in, costs and enforcement information for this case.
- Redetermined
- No
- Bespoke
- No
- Date recovered
- Not recorded
- Date not recovered or derecovered
- Not recorded
- Call-in date
- Not recorded
- Costs applied for
- Not recorded
- Enforcement grounds count
- Not recorded
- Enforcement grounds
- Not recorded
Source and catalogue history
When this record appeared in the rolling official release and when the catalogue stored it.
- Source
- Planning Inspectorate casework database
- Source data system
- Horizon
- Dataset status
- Current release
- Catalogue record ID
- 2727
- First seen
- 20 August 2026 at 14:24
- Last seen
- 20 August 2026 at 16:25
- Removed from release
- Not recorded
- Record created
- 20 August 2026 at 14:24
- Record updated
- 24 August 2026 at 16:21