Plans for an ‘additional floor’ on a three-storey block of flats have rekindled old fears about loss of light and privacy for neighbours now that the council is due to decide the outcome.
Avon Ground Rents Ltd has submitted to Bucks Council a planning application for Park House, on Station Road, in Loudwater.
Permission is sought for a roof extension on the existing three-storey, flat-roofed, former office building, currently consisting of 20 apartments, to create three extra flats (one two-bed and two one-bed).
Park House on Station Road
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The extension will also have cut outs for balcony areas, and the parking will increase from 26 to 29 spaces, according to council documents.
Upset residents first expressed outrage at the plans when they were submitted in November last year, fearing they would not see the sun for “months” every year if the roof extension is green-lit.
Now that the plans are going before the council, Cllr Katrina Wood said many locals have other concerns, including that the extension would be an “overdevelopment”, that it would “dominate the village landscape”, and be “far too imposing”.
While others fear a “loss of privacy”, and some still fear the roof extension will “block sunlight”.
Some said there is already “insufficient parking” locally and an increase at Park House ‘will make it worse’, and that additional rubbish will ‘add to existing vermin problems’.
Chepping Wycombe Parish Council also “strongly” objected on insufficient parking grounds, saying: “Occupants have been seen parking in Fassetts Road and Station Road because of lack of parking spaces on the site.”
But officers are “satisfied” the extension ‘will not adversely affect’ neighbours, the area, or the “safety and convenience” of road users.
The Highways Authority also said ‘vehicle displacement will not occur’ as a result of the scheme.
The application is recommended for approval.
The matter will be discussed during a West Bucks Area Planning Committee, on July 27.
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