13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — Appeal Decision Site visit made on 6 March 2024 by L Francis BA (Hons) MA MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 9th April 2024 Appeal Ref: APP/G5750/W/23/3325146 13A Langdon Road, East Ham, London E6 2QB • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) against a refusal to grant planning permission. • The appeal is made by Mr Sami Ruzzaman against the decision of the Council of the London Borough of Newham. • The application Ref is 23/00908/FUL. • The development proposed is the erection of a front projecting dormer window. Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Main Issue 2. The main issue is the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area. Reasons 3. Langdon Road is residential in character. It is primarily composed of 19th Century and more modern terraced housing, along with some flatted development. The appeal site comprises a single family dwelling over 4 floors, the top floor being a loft conversion with a dormer to the rear. The house is set within a terrace of 9 similar properties, of which one other also has a rear dormer. 4.

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — Appeal Decision The appeal proposal is for the erection of a projecting dormer to the front roofslope, which would provide additional space to a bedroom. The dormer would contain a single window with a pitched roof and walls tiled to match the existing roof. 5. The front roof slopes of the terrace containing the appeal site are of a uniform appearance and do not contain any front dormers. The terrace adjacent to the west, which is of a similar appearance to the appeal site, also has a uniform front roof slope. There are no examples of front dormer windows on Langdon Road and they are not characteristic of the immediate vicinity. 6. Whilst I appreciate that the dormer has been designed to be modest and is not of a scale comparable to the rear dormer, given the very uniform nature of the roofslopes in this location, the presence of a dormer would be highly visible and at odds with the remainder of the terrace and wider street scene. The disruption to the uniformity of the terrace and introduction of a feature which is out of character with the immediate vicinity would harm the character and appearance of the area. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — Appeal Decision Appeal Decision APP/G5750/W/23/3325146 7. The introduction of a front dormer would be contrary to the advice contained in Altering and Extending Your Home Supplementary Planning Document 2018 (SPD). This advises that alterations at roof level should seek to preserve the character of the original house by maintaining street facing slopes, ridge lines and chimneys. 8. My attention has been drawn to 3 examples1 of front dormers within the local authority area which have been given planning permission and 1 example allowed on appeal2. Each example is some distance from the appeal site and has a different context in terms of the surrounding buildings and street scene. I note from the reports provided by the appellant that for each of the dormers granted permission by the Council, one of the main considerations in permitting the dormers was that there were several other similar examples on the street, or that they were a characteristic feature of the immediate area. The front dormer roof infill allowed on appeal is not directly comparable in that there were already front dormers to the building in question.

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — Appeal Decision I therefore attach limited weight to these examples and they do not change my conclusion on the overall merits of the proposal. 9. The proposal therefore runs contrary to Policies D1 and D4 of the London Plan 2021 and Policies H1, S6, SP1, SP3 and SP8 of the Newham Local Plan 2018. Taken together, and amongst other things, these policies seek to ensure high quality design in new development. These policies are consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework. 10. I note the Council also refer to Policy SP2 of the Newham Local Plan 2018 in their reason for refusal. This policy relates to healthy neighbourhoods and I do not consider it directly relevant to the issue of character and appearance. As such it is not determinative in this instance. Other matters 11. I note the appeal site is within the zone of influence of the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation. As I am dismissing the appeal, I shall not pursue this matter further because it would not lead me to a different conclusion. Conclusion 12. I have found that the appeal proposal would harm the character and appearance of the area, as such it is contrary to the development plan read as a whole.

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — Appeal Decision No material considerations have been shown to have sufficient weight to indicate that a decision should be taken otherwise than in accordance with it. The appeal should therefore be dismissed.

13A Langdon Road, LONDON, E6 2QB — London Borough of Newham — L Francis INSPECTOR 1 8 Jasper Road, London E16 3TR ref 21/02082; 69 Margery Park Road, London E7 9LD ref 22/02199/HH; 59 Capel Road, London E7 0JP ref 16/01803/HH 2 83-87 Belgrave Court, London E13 8RP appeal ref APP/G5750/W/21/3277163 https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2