Garage Conversion & Raising Flat Roof Height

[Rishi B]

Hi all,

 

New member here with a bit of an issue. My wife and I have just bought our first home and we plan on converting the garage (not standalone) into a habitable room. Unfortunately the garage has a huge bulkhead inside it which severely limits its usability. Our house is semi-detached and the neighbour’s property mirrors ours pretty much exactly - there is a shared party wall between the two garages. The house is not in a conservation or other protected area.

 

Neither of our garages are part of the original dwelling, they were part of a front extension which was done in the 1980s. 

 

The bulkhead is a result of an unnecessarily low flat roof (only about 2.5m from the outside) which means that if we were to build up the floor of the garage to match the floor height of the rest of the first floor, there would only be about 2.1m of clearance under the bulkhead (which covers half of the room).

 

We therefore applied for full planning permission to our local council to raise the roof to 3m but they have said they will be rejecting the application because it will cause a mismatch between our property and our neighbour’s and therefore harm the character of the street. Our neighbour has also objected to our plans about six times! We have however already got a party wall agreement in place. The council's decision is due on Monday and if, as expected, they reject our application, we plan to appeal.

 

I know the appeal process can be very long so my question is two-fold:

 

1. If the council refuse our application, can we still go ahead with raising the roof height of the garage to 3m under permitted development rules? This would remove our need to appeal to the planning inspectorate.

 

2. If permitted development rules don't permit raising the roof height, does anyone have advice on appealing a planning decision rejected solely based on "impacting the character of the street"?

 

Thanks,

 

RB

[Rishi B]

Pic of the garage from the outside.

[Rishi B]

Pic of the bulkhead inside the garage.

[DevilDamo]

As a result of it being on the front of the dwelling, you cannot raise (or alter) the roof via PD. So your only option is to meet the LPA’s policies and concerns. Could you not get a lean-to pitched roof to work as the LPA should be more favourable towards that as opposed to a raised flat top?

[Rishi B]

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't have minded a pitched roof but that would cause even more of a visual difference when compared to the neighbour’s side of the semi so I suspect they would actuallt consider that less favourably. The only reason we submitted for a flat roof is to minimise any visual change since there is already an existing flat roof.

[DevilDamo]

Flat roofs on the front of properties are not attractive at the best of times, let alone one that is raised against one at its standard height. I do think a lean-to pitched roof is a lot more likely to be favoured. No harm in trying? Can’t find an example of a pitched roof next to a flat roof at the mo but food for thought… before and after. The latter being a lot more appealing. 

[Rishi B]

Thanks for the help. Our application was rejected today but I've emailed our planning officer to get their views on whether or not they would be more amenable to a pitched roof.