164 London Road, Southend on Sea, SS1 1PH

Planning appeal 3342069 at 164 London Road, Southend on Sea, SS1 1PH (Southend-on-Sea City Council) was dismissed on 1 May 2025 by Inspector Grierson E, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: the effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the host building and the surrounding area.

a change of use from ground floor commercial shop to residential flat

Authority: Southend-on-Sea City Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Grierson E
Postcode: SS1 1PH

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

the effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the host building and the surrounding area
whether the proposed development would provide satisfactory living conditions for the future occupiers of the proposed residential flat with regards to outlook, light and storage space

What decided it

The harm to character and appearance and the failure to provide satisfactory living conditions, particularly the lack of outlook to the main living space, outweighed the limited housing benefits of a single unit despite the Council's housing land supply deficit.

The limited benefits of one additional residential unit in a sustainable location and on previously developed land were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the harm to character and appearance and the poor living conditions, such that the presumption in favour of sustainable development did not apply.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies: Policy KP2Policy CP4Policy DM1Policy DM3Policy DM8Policy KP1
National Planning Policy Framework: Paragraph 11Paragraph 8

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

240 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision

An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter — Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.

Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app — Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.

Start your free trial

More decisions in Southend-on-Sea City Council

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

Dismissed29 October 20266013127
3 Cobham Road,, Westcliff-on-Sea,, SS0 8EG
Dismissed27 October 20266011259
20 Tattersall Gardens, Leigh on Sea, Southend on Sea, SS92QT
Dismissed2 October 20266009318
128 Monometer House Rectory Grove, Leigh-on-sea, Southend-on-sea, SS9 2HN
Dismissed2 October 20266009119
456 Southchurch Rd, Southend, SS1 2QA
Dismissed30 September 20266008855
Shorefield Cottage 7A, Shorefield Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS07RH

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.