49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision Site visit made on 9 September 2021 by Hannah Ellison BSc (Hons) MSc MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 29th September 2021 Appeal Ref: APP/E5330/W/21/3275784 49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, London SE7 7DE • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant planning permission. • The appeal is made by Mr David Frankling against the decision of the Council of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. • The application Ref 21/0269/F, dated 22 January 2021, was refused by notice dated 22 March 2021. • The development proposed is a new two bedroom house in existing rear garden of 49 Marlborough Lane with new vehicular access/crossover from Sutlej Road. Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Preliminary Matter 2. The revised National Planning Policy Framework (the Framework) was published in July 2021. This has replaced the 2019 iteration. The main parties were given the opportunity to comment upon the implications of the revised Framework and I have taken any received into account. Main Issue 3. The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area. Reasons 4.

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision The proposed development would occupy part of the rear garden of the appeal site and face Sutlej Road. Whilst there is the occasional detached example, the street scene mainly consists of evenly spaced pairs of two storey, pitched roof, traditional brick and tile semi-detached dwellings that square onto and are set back from their road frontage. They have relatively spacious gardens stretching to the rear. There is therefore an order and uniformity to the immediate area, with a pleasant sense of spaciousness to plots which, together, contribute positively to its character and appearance. 5. The proposed dwelling, by virtue of its location, would present at an angle to Sutlej Road. It would utilise a modern design with a timber clad first floor and flat roof. By virtue of a large tree in the plot, it would be sat over to one side and have a very narrow, linear footprint. It would have a short rear garden, as well as truncating that which belongs to No 49 Marlborough Lane. By virtue of these factors, the appeal scheme would appear as a contrived and somewhat incongruously designed addition to the area which would be cramped in its contextually small plot.

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision Accordingly, it would impinge on the traditional https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision Accordingly, it would impinge on the traditional https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate Appeal Decision APP/E5330/W/21/3275784 appearance, order and even rhythm of the street scene and noticeably reduce the spacious feel to rear gardens. 6. Accordingly, the proposed development would harm the character and appearance of the area and would conflict with Policies D3 and D4 of The London Plan 2021 and Policies DH1 and H(c) of the Royal Greenwich Local Plan, Core Strategy with Detailed Policies 2014. Collectively, these policies seek to ensure that developments are of a high-quality design that responds positively to the existing context and maintains its character. Other Matters 7. The proposed green sedum roof would provide some environmental benefits however these would be limited given the scale of the development. They would not therefore overcome the harm I have identified. 8. Dwellings have been approved adjacent to 51 Marlborough Lane and 7 Sutlej Road which would result in smaller rear gardens at those properties. However, they have a considerably different arrangement to the predominant surrounding layout of development as they occupy corner positions and also have generous garden space to the front.

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision As such, they are read in a different context and thus are not directly comparable to the appeal site. 9. The proposal would largely reflect the positioning of 7b Sutlej Road. I do not know the full circumstances which lead to its approval. Nevertheless, its discordant siting contrasts with the siting and pattern of surrounding pairs of semi-detached properties. By following this layout, the proposal would further interrupt the rhythm in the street scene and thus this example does not serve to justify the appeal proposal. In addition, there are more matters besides the precise siting of the appeal scheme that I have concerns with. I have explained them in my findings on the main issue. 10. Concern over how the Council dealt with the planning application is not a matter for me in the context of this appeal. I have considered the proposal strictly on its merits and have found it would cause harm as identified above. Conclusion 11. The Government’s objective is to significantly boost the supply of housing.

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — Appeal Decision The proposal would provide an additional home which would bring some accompanying benefits associated with the investment and employment in the construction of the dwelling, and from the spending in the local area from future occupants. 12. However, the nature of these social and economic benefits would be limited due to the small scale of the development and would not therefore outweigh the harm to the character and appearance of the area, harm which attracts significant weight given the importance placed on good design in local and national planning policy. Therefore, the proposal conflicts with the development plan and there are no material considerations that indicate a decision otherwise would be appropriate. Thus, the appeal should be dismissed.

49 Marlborough Lane, Charlton, LONDON, SE7 7DE — Royal Borough of Greenwich — H Ellison INSPECTOR https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2