Appeal 3305589

The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for Erection of a mansard-style roof extension at [site address] , Hackney, London, [postcode] in accordance with the terms of the application, Ref 2022/0967, dated 13 April 2022, and the plans submitted with it, subject to the following

The development hereby permitted shall begin not later than 3 years from the date of this decision.

The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: Site location plan, SM/SU-100 Existing Floor Plan & [name]/SU-101 Existing sections, SM/PP-100 [name], SM/PP-101 [name], SM/PP-102 Proposed side elevations & sections SM/PP-102.

The materials to be used in the construction of the external surfaces of the development hereby permitted shall match those of the existing building.

The main issue is the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the property and the local street scene.

The appeal site is located within a densely built-up residential area made up of long rows of traditional two or three storey Victorian terraced houses of a similar aesthetic. The appeal property is positioned mid-terrace and the parapet wall conceals the roof behind with traditional butterfly roof form to the rear. Whilst parapets are consistent across the street scene, there is variation to their height.

The roof behind the parapet is currently not visible from public vantage. The appellant has illustrated on a submitted plan that the proposed extension would not be clearly perceptible from the perspective of the street scene looking up from pavement level at close range. I concur that the proposal would not be clearly visible from this aspect.

I appreciate that when looking back from further afield on [address] the mansard roof would be visible. Only a small section of the terrace is currently visible from this road.

I see this proposal to be no different from the mansard roofs that I viewed to other local streets, most specifically those approved on [address] that are not seen from pavement level outside, but are seen in longer range views from [address].

As part of my assessment I have had regard to the Council’s Residential Extensions and Alterations Supplementary Planning Document 2009. The continuity of the parapet would remain and only in longer range views would the change to the roof line be seen from outside the site. It would not harm the special characteristics of the street scene.

To conclude, the proposal would lead to no detrimental effect to the host dwelling or to the character and appearance of the street scene and would therefore meet the design aims of Policy LP1 of Hackney’s Local Plan 2033 as well as Policy D3 of the London Plan 2021. In addition, I find no conflict with the [name] and Alterations Supplementary Planning Document 2009.

In the interest of certainty, a time limit condition is required to implement the works. A further condition is needed requiring compliance with the approved plans, also in the interests of certainty. In the interest of an acceptable finish to the scheme, I need to impose a condition requiring the use of matching materials.

For the reasons given above I conclude that the appeal is allowed.