Our latest planning permissions from June and July 2021:

Listed Building Renovation in Hampshire

Fowlers have been involved in a multi-stage project at a Grade II listed building in Hampshire. The wider site includes a listed house, a large cottage, plus a number of outbuildings, all set in generous landscaped grounds.

We have recently been managing the cottage refurbishment. While these works are ongoing we have secured planning permission and listed building consent to renovate the house as well. The renovation of the listed house allows for better family spaces both upstairs and downstairs. This includes new and altered doorways to better link the indoor and outdoor spaces.

Working with our client’s landscape gardener, Fowlers are now working on plans to improve the outside areas. Our clients want to make changes to the outbuildings and their layout, which we are helping to develop. We’re excited to see this project move forward and look forward to seeing the finished site.

Orangery Extension in Berkshire

Our clients came to us wanting planning permission for a kitchen and dining room extension to their house.

The house is located within a Grade II listed Registered Park and Garden, and within a Conservation Area. The site also has a 3m high walled garden which will help to screen the proposed extension from the registered park and garden. We designed a modest, sympathetic extension using sensitive materials to match the existing building.

We submitted the application to the Council earlier this year. Unfortunately, both the council and the conservation officer had concerns. They thought the extension would disrupt the symmetry of the existing house and would not match the architectural details of the main building.

The planning team at Fowlers entered discussions with the planning officer. We suggested the extension could be allowed under permitted development rights. However, the planning officer disagreed that the development would fall under permitted development because it is a side extension. We disputed this claim, but decided to withdraw the application.

We then approached a planning solicitor to help our clients. They discussed permitted development with us and were instructed to write a letter in support of the application. The application was resubmitted as a permitted development application (called a certificate of lawful development) for a larger extension than our original design, and was approved. After a challenging process, we are delighted to get the result our clients wanted.

Class Q Barn Conversion in Hampshire

We recently gained Class Q planning permission for a barn conversion in Hampshire. The application was for the change of use of an agricultural building into ‘one larger dwellinghouse’.

We originally had to withdraw a planning application on this site because the Council required more information on structural issues, ecology, and about the wider agricultural use of the land. The site is set within the countryside, part of a 70 acre holding, and the barn was part of a unit for grain drying and storage. We compiled this additional information, and went back in for planning.

During the course of the application, we were asked to prove that no other class Q applications had been carried out on the wider agricultural holding. The planning officer was satisfied that the additional information was sufficient, and planning permission was granted. This enables our clients to create a useful and unique home.