Appeal 3304706
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
4 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
a box dormer to the front elevation to provide increased living space within loft rooms.
Section 02
Decision
The appeal is dismissed.
Section 03
Main Issue
The main issue is the effect of the proposed dormer on the character and appearance of the host dwelling and the street scene of [address].
Section 04
Reasons
I saw on my visit that Nos. [address], including the appeal dwelling at No. 140, form a group of detached but closely spaced bungalows of the same design on the south side of the road. The Council’s concern is one of the loss of the original ‘eyebrow’ dormer and its replacement with a larger flat roofed box dormer. It is considered that this would be a dominating and incongruous structure that would harm the appearance of the host dwelling and have an adverse effect on the street scene.
For the appellants it is argued that there are about [address] including nine of the same type and design as No. 140. These include No. 165 where the original eyebrow dormer has been replaced by a dormer of the same size, bulk and proportion as the appeal scheme. (No. 92 is also cited but this retains the eyebrow feature and has a pitched roof dormer to either side). Reference is also made to half a dozen semi-detached properties with front dormers, but the Council confirms these were part of the original design.
I acknowledge that flat roofed box dormers to the front of dwellings are at least part of the character and appearance of the area. However, the difference in this case is that the appeal dwelling is one of a row of four in which the original design incorporating the eyebrow feature remains unaltered.
As the Council says, they form a cohesive and visually pleasing group which the proposed dormer would significantly disrupt. And with two storey houses to both sides which define this group as a distinctive visual entity, the setting of No. 140 is quite different to No. 165. The latter has a corner position and this, together with a neighbouring garage of an unsympathetic design, prevents it being read as a pair with an adjoining property of the same original design.
Overall, whilst there are other box dormers in the road, including one as a result of alterations to a house of the same design, I conclude that the proposal would be harmful to the character and appearance of the original dwelling and the street scene. Accordingly, the proposal would be in conflict with Policies CS21 & CS24 of the [name] 2012; the Council’s Design SPD 2015 and Section 12: ‘[name] of Government policy in the National Planning Policy Framework 2021.
For these reasons, and having had regard to all other matters raised, the appeal is 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 204No official casework-database value to compare
- Extracted decision date · page 1
- 28 November 2022Matches the official casework database
- Extracted site visit dates
- 31 October 2022 (page 1)
Reference and authority
Official identifiers and the planning authority recorded against this case.
- Case reference
- 3304706
- Application reference
- PLAN/2022/0501
- Lead case reference
- Not recorded
- Planning authority
- Woking Borough Council
- Planning authority code
- E07000217
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
- 0 m²
- 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
- 8 August 2022
- Valid date
- 8 August 2022
- Start date
- 15 September 2022
- Planning authority decision date
- 20 July 2022
- Appeal decision date
- 28 November 2022
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
- 24202
- First seen
- 20 August 2026 at 14:24
- Last seen
- 20 August 2026 at 16:26
- Removed from release
- Not recorded
- Record created
- 20 August 2026 at 14:24
- Record updated
- 24 August 2026 at 16:21