TWO semi-detached houses with parking have been thrown out by a planning group owing to their ‘overbearing bulk’.
Permission was refused for two, two-bed semi-detached homes with attached carports off the High Street, in Great Missenden, during an East Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee, on Tuesday, October 20.
Members voted in the majority to turn down the application following strong opposition from locals, Great Missenden Parish Council, and Cllr John Gladwin who called the item in for scrutiny.
There are six other properties on the site, which lies in a conservation area within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
A 2015 application requesting eight properties was at the time considered an “overdevelopment” and paired back to six.
It was felt the two homes in the same location as in this proposal would cause ‘harm’ to a neighbouring listed building, owing to their “bulk”.
Despite “significant reduction” in scale and “visual dominance” under the current proposal, and being considered acceptable by council officers, members were not convinced.
Cllr John Wertheim strongly opposed the scheme, saying: “Is this what we’re going to do – destroy this conservation area? I cannot accept this.”
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A resident speaking against the proposal said: “This application has already been refused once… it’s not obvious to anyone locally why eight houses is suddenly permissible when previously only six were.
“Back Lane, which provides access to the site, is a key throughfare for the village primary school and to The Misbourne School and hundreds of children walk down that little strip every day… adding further traffic… is also not desirable.”
Four parking spaces were proposed to serve the new properties.
Members refused the scheme based on its ‘scale and bulk’.
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