10A Mapesbury Road, London, NW2 4JB

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether condition 7 of the 2018 permission (details of external materials including boundary treatments) should be discharged and substituted with alternatively worded conditions, with particular regard to the effects upon the character and appearance of the appeal property and surrounding area and the Brondesbury Conservation Area
• Whether conditions 2, 4 and 6 of the 2019 permission (approved drawings, landscaping and planting works, and refuse/recycling/cycle parking facilities) should be discharged and substituted with alternatively worded conditions, with particular regard to the effects upon the character and appearance of the appeal property and surrounding area and the Brondesbury Conservation Area, and the provision of facilities for refuse, recycling and cycle parking

What decided it

The plastic sheeting and artificial hedging were visually intrusive and incongruous features wholly at odds with the verdant character and appearance of Mapesbury Road and the conservation area, with no public benefits to overcome the identified harm; conversely, the alternative scheme for the forecourt layout and facilities provision would accord with development plan policies and preserve the character of the area.

The less than substantial harm to the conservation area caused by the plastic sheeting was not outweighed by any public benefits; the alternative scheme for the hardstanding and landscaping struck an appropriate balance by reducing hard surfacing and increasing soft landscaping consistent with the street's character