Appeal 3374744

The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for The erection of a three-storey rear extension (over lower ground, ground and first floor levels) and removal of the existing lower ground floor infill, enlarging the existing rear dormer, lowering the window sill of the window in front lightwell at [site address] , Camden, London [postcode] , in accordance with the terms of application ref 2025/3220/P dated 22 July 2025, and subject to the conditions within the attached schedule.

The appeal site is located within the Hampstead Conservation Area (CA). I am therefore mindful of my statutory duties in respect of Section 72(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (the Act).

I note the description of the development within the banner heading slightly differs from the Council’s description. I have however carried forward the Council’s description in my decision letter as this is an acceptable description and is also used within the appellant’s appeal form.

The main issue is whether or not the proposal would preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Hampstead Conservation Area.

The appeal site is located within a specific sub area of the [name]. The character of the CA is urban, and formed by the relationship of its historic pattern of development, its buildings of architectural worth, topography and extensive green open spaces and distant views. The CA encapsulates a varied, eclectic and extensive townscape character. The appeal site is set within a myriad of 18th to 20th century buildings linked by a tangle of narrow lanes, passages, walks, streets and roads with the effect of tumbling down the hill. There are many striking and fine examples of villas, mansions, ecclesiastical buildings and Edwardian blocks, some of very decorated style and others of a simpler vernacular, largely constructed in the archetypal red brick finishing material seen across Hampstead.

From the front elevation, the appeal site appears as a two storey dwelling and forms part of a wider terrace of buildings, mostly residential. Number [site address] is part of [address] and is a pair of semi-detached houses that closely relates to one another by sharing the same design characteristics. The front elevations of the four houses as a group are decorated and aesthetically pleasing. These houses add positively to the character and appearance of the street scene and CA as a whole, which is further reinforced within the words of the character appraisal for this part of the CA..

The front of this pair of semi’s are symmetrical and their integrity is significantly intact. The rear elevations of the four houses are three storey with paired returns. The character to the rear is of a more restrained aesthetic and as far as I could tell, all dwellings have been altered from their historic origins by way of roof dormers, low level extensions and some non-historic windows.

There is an extant planning permission secured at the site to extend the dwelling1 and from what I could see on site, this permission has been implemented. The proposal before me seeks a new planning permission and as a whole would include the previously approved works including an enlarged rear extension. The area in contention between the parties relates to the rear extension only. Therefore, as part of my assessment, I will concentrate on this area.

The appellant seeks to increase the height of the rear in-fill extension to extend three stories in height. As there is an extant consent to build two stories, which is a material consideration, it would add another floor directly above this and would follow the same width and design characteristics as that previously approved. The proposal would largely align with the height of the existing return with a slight set back from the rear building line of this return, creating a subservience to the extension.

The tall vertical glazing would appear as a modern interpretation of the vertical emphasis of the adjacent windows of the host dwelling, and the flat zinc rood roof, metal frames to the substantial glazing would read as a modern and contemporary extension, of its time.

The proposed extension would sit between the adjacent building at 1A and [address] and No 1 [name]. The neighbouring buildings are of significantly larger scale, mass and bulk to the appeal site with differing characteristics. The proposal would be seen in the context of its relationship with these much larger buildings and somewhat absorbed into their bulk, thus reducing its overall impact on the host dwelling.

The rear of the terrace as a whole is only principally experienced in views from the planned housing development behind the appeal site; the midrise [address], and seen more clearly from its on-site private car park, and private views from some of these residential flats. I notice the high garden boundary wall to the group of houses at [address] and existing tree cover within the private car park 1 2025/1838/[name] 24.06.2025 also provides some screening properties, with the upper floors of the rear of these houses and roof scape visible. Acutely obvious are the existing large roof dormers that dominate the roof line of these group of houses.

The loss of a single third floor window of historic fabric would be regrettable. However, as it is located in this corner position, the loss of the window would have a minor effect upon the visual coherence of the rear of the group of houses and this is taken together with the fact that the rear windows when viewed as a whole, are of a range of patterns and design, sizes and styles, and therefore in this particular situation the erection of an rear in-fill extension would, in my view, have an no harmful effect upon the character and appearance of the conservation area. Therefore, this proposal would meet the expectations of the Act by preserving or enhancing the character and appearance of the CA.

To conclude on this main issue, the proposal would not conflict with the objectives to safeguard the historic environment in accordance with policies A1, D1 and D2 of the Camden Local Plan that aims to manage the impact of development, respect local distinctiveness and safeguard the historic environment, and policies H26, H27 and H28 of the Hampstead Conservation Area Statement 2001 that also aims to protect and enhance the historic environment. It would accord with the same good design and heritage protection aims of policies DH1 and DH2 of the Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan 2025.

As the proposal before me includes other development not in contention between the parties, from my assessment of this, I have no reason to come to an alternative view on the acceptability of these other elements.

I have considered the suggested conditions submitted by the Council in light of the Planning Practice Guidance and Paragraph 57 of the Framework. The proposal shall be built in full compliance with the approved plans and the standard time limit to implement works is included in the interest of preciseness. As works have commenced on site to implement the extant permission and I am granting a new permission, in the interest of clarity, a condition is imposed to provide details of the schedule of works and within this condition, I have amended the Council’s suggested condition to include the submission of details of external materials and finishes, in the interest of preciseness.

For the reasons set out above, I conclude that the appeal should be allowed.

The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with drawing nos: EX-00-000 Site Location Plan EX-00-100 Existing Lower Ground Floor Plan EX-00-101 Existing Ground Floor Plan EX-00-102 Existing First Floor Plan EX-00-103 Existing Second Floor Plan EX-00-104 Existing Roof Plan Section AA EX-XX-00 - 200 Existing Section BB EX-XX-00 - 201 Existing Section DD EX-XX-00- 203 [name]-00-300 [name]-00-301 [name][address] Elevation PL2-XX - 203 Proposed Section DD PL2-XX - 212 Permitted & Proposed Section DD PL2-XX - 300 [name] PL2-XX - 301 [name] PL2-XX - [address] Elevation PL2-XX - 310 Permitted & [name] PL2-XX - 311 Permitted & [address] Elevation PL2 - 00 100 Proposed Lower Ground Floor Plan PL2 - 00 101 Proposed Ground Floor Plan PL2 - 00 102 Proposed First Floor Plan PL2 - 00 103 Proposed Second Floor Plan PL2 - 00 104 Proposed Roof Plan

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

Within six weeks of date of this approval, a schedule of the programme of all external works shall be submitted to the Local Planning Authority. Within the programme of works for each area, it shall include the following: - details of materials to be used on the external finish of the development including samples to be inspected on site by the Local Planning Authority - large scale details including joinery details of new or replacement windows (including jambs, head and sill and glazing bars and all external doors) which shall include sections at a scale of 1:10 - large scale drawings of the rear extension including sections at a scale of 1:50 The details shall thereafter be approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority, and the approved details shall be implemented in full thereafter and retained for the lifetime of the development. End of Schedule