®Planning appeal decision
Flat B, 11 Commercial Road, BEDFORD, MK40 1RB
Change of use of Garage / Storage area ancillary to 11B Commercial Rd into additional bedroom and living space increasing the existing 1 Bedroom Flat (11B) to a two bedroom Flat (under Use Class C3). Proposal includes replacement of garage doors with UPVC double glazed window and door and internal reconfiguration of the existing flat
- Authority
- Bedford Borough Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Smith A
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The effect upon the character and appearance of the area, having particular regard to the potential for a separate unit of living accommodation to be created
- Whether or not acceptable arrangements for the storage of cycles would be provided
What decided it
The clear potential for the garage to be occupied as a self-contained unit, combined with the inability to enforce conditions preventing this and the failure to provide adequate cycle storage, caused unacceptable harm to character and appearance and conflicted with development plan policies.
The modest benefits of converting underutilised building space and providing additional residential floorspace in an accessible location, together with limited visual improvements to the street elevation and potential on-street parking gains, were outweighed by the considerable harms to character and appearance arising from the potential for separate occupation and the failure to provide acceptable cycle storage arrangements.
Plan policies cited: Policy 28S, Policy 29, Policy 30, Policy 31
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.