Appeal 3295304

The appeal is dismissed.

The main issue in this appeal is the effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the surrounding area.

Croham Valley Road is a mature residential road showing changes in levels along the road with houses set back from the highway and differences in heights between properties and the pavement. There is variation in the design and scale of individual houses, but the impression is that of houses sitting comfortably next to neighbours to form a coherent street scene. The appeal property is set slightly lower than the neighbour to the east at No. 44.

The proposed works would a change of the existing hipped roofs to gable ends with half hips. This would enable a longer ridge line to the roof and a dormer to the rear and rooflights to the front. The change to the flank elevations as a result of this would create dominant gable ends to the property that would notably change the scale and design of the house. The resulting bulk and form of the house would sit uncomfortably next to the adjoining house of No. 44 to the east, which would appear dominated by the height of the extended house.

This awkward juxtaposition between the properties would be intrusive to the wider area and would be emphasised by the position of No. 42 being set slightly forward of No. 44. I acknowledge that there are hipped gables of similar style in the wider area, but it is the context in which the appeal site lies that is the salient point in this appeal: the relationship to the adjoining houses www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate creates the intrusive visual appearance that is harmful to the area. I further note that No. 44 adjoining has half hipped gables, but I saw at my site visit these are designed with the architectural approach of the first floor being set partly within the eaves and roof slope, and so the visual prominence of the roof and gables is markedly reduced; that is not achieved in the appeal scheme.

The Council's Suburban Design Guide 2019 Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) states that roof extensions proposing a hip to gable roof extension should not interrupt the pattern of roof forms visible from the street. The proposals would not satisfy this requirement, since there would be disruption to the established character of the area.

The proposals show a dormer addition to the rear of the property. The SPD states that rear dormers should generally be no more than two thirds the width of the existing roof of semi-detached and detached houses. This would be exceeded and, in this instance, I agree that the resulting form of the dormer would appear excessive for the property. The scale of the dormer would result in an imbalanced house out of character with the wider area and which, from my site visit, I saw does not see dormer extensions of such scale. This would be harmful to the host property and the established residential area.

Policies DM10 and SP4 of the Croydon Local Plan 2018 seek to ensure a high quality built environment and that new development is of a high standard of design appropriate to the local character of an area, and the SPD similarly requires extensions and alterations to respond to the character of the area. The proposals would be harmful to the character and appearance of the area and hence conflict with these policies. The appeal is therefore dismissed.