Garden buildings at the rear of new Allesley homes deemed 'too big'

[dutchman]

Plans for ‘conspicuous’ Green Belt outbuildings thrown out by planners



A builder’s bid to put outbuildings at the rear of two homes being constructed in Allesley has been thrown out by planners at Coventry City Council because they would be ‘conspicuous’ in the Green Belt. The applicant said the buildings would house garden machinery.

Permission has already been granted for four homes to be built on the land accessed via a private farm track between 260 and 262 Hawkes Mill Lane and the latest application was to erect outbuildings to the rear of plots three and four. Each one would be 6m x 3m and 2.5m high with the walls being timber-clad.

A report by planning officer Ayesha Saleem explained that very special circumstances were needed to build in Coventry's Green Belt in order to protect its openness. Certain exceptions include buildings used for agriculture or forestry or if it was replacing an existing building as long as it was to be used for the same purpose and was not substantially larger.

She added: “The applicant has not submitted any formal very special circumstances but has emailed and provided a site plan showing historically that there were buildings in place where the proposed outbuildings are to be located. The buildings in question were part of a former piggeries and their footprint and volume were taken into account in the application to develop the site into housing. Therefore, the same (now demolished) buildings cannot be used to justify further development on the land.

“Further to this, it has been mentioned that the buildings are required to store garden maintenance equipment. Whilst this is a reasonable supposition, the proposed buildings are far larger than would be required to store a lawnmower and garden tools with a typical traditional shed being in the order of 7ft x 5ft or 8ft x 6ft in footprint, which is a small proportion of the proposed outbuildings.

“In conclusion, very special circumstances do not exist to justify the inappropriate development proposed. The application site lies within the Green Belt where strict policies of restraint apply. This application proposes outbuildings to the rear of plots three and four which would be conspicuous and cause serious harm to the Green Belt because it is inappropriate and diminishes openness.”

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/garden-buildings-rear-new-coventry-33287261