Headway House

HEADWAY HOUSE 07/P/00493 North Road, Stoughton, GU2 9PU Erection of a two storey building incorporating day centre and four flats, a two storey terrace of 6 houses and associated car parking and landscaping following demolition of existing day centre. (Amendments received 27/04/04.)[Registered 12/03/07]

This appliction went to committee on 22nd May and was deferred for a site visit. It was then refused at a meeting on 7th June (see officer's report). It has since gone to appeal. APP/Y3615/A/07/2053373.

SCA has mixed feelings about this planning application. As we had not been consulted by Headway, we objected because of overdevelopment, parking and garden-grabbing. It would clearly be an improvement to the area, but there are worries about additional traffic, and the principal concern over the appropriation of the gardens belonging to housing association homes on Grange Road (Nos. 31, 35 & 39) for use as back-gardens for the new afforable units proposed, which deprives the existing homes of gardens and mean the existing and new homes would directly overlook each other more than is usually acceptable.

The council properties are actually maisonettes, where each property has its own share of the garden. The site plans give the impression that part of each garden remains, but this would only be for one half of each maisonette, with the other maisonette losing out entirely.

The council housing services department wrote to the tenants of the housing association houses asking them to meet the developer prior to a decision being made. Letter from GBC Housing Dept Nov'06. One of the tenants has spoken out aginst this despite their fears of what the council may do.

SCA have written to Headway to seek an amicable solution, but we have not had a response and the application has since gone to appeal.

See newspaper articles below.

Please see comment in Headway's June 2007 newsletter

Application has now gone to appeal APP/Y3615/A/07/2053373.

GBC's reasons for refusal:

1. The proposed terrace of six x two storey houses comprises an overdevelopment of the site, involving the use of part of the rear garden areas of flats that adjoin the site to the east and which front onto Grange Road. The rear amenity space available to the new houses, together with that remaining for the flats, would result in an inadequate back to back separation distance that would result in an overbearing form of development, together with overlooking and a consequent loss of privacy and amenities to occupants of the flats and of the proposed houses. As such, the proposal conflicts with policies G1[3] and H4 [ criteria 2 ] of the Guildford Borough Local Plan 2003.

2. The application proposal fails to provide an acceptable number of car parking spaces and therefore conflicts with the Council's adopted Supplementary Parking Standards Document 'Vehicle Parking Standards' September 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/surrey/6502711.stm