Controversial plans for “another storey” on a block of flats have been approved – despite rekindling old fears about loss of light and privacy.
Bucks Council has voted to approve an application submitted by Avon Ground Rents Ltd for an ‘additional floor’ to be built on Park House, on Station Road, in Loudwater.
Avon won permission for a pitched roof extension to 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
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The extension will also have cut outs for balcony areas (with a condition that balconies be recessed), and parking will increase from 26 to 29 spaces.
Cllr Arman Alam proposed the motion.
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Speaking against the proposal, Cllr Katrina Wood restated concerns about parking and loss of light first expressed by residents when plans were submitted in November last year.
“I do have real concerns over this application,” said Cllr Wood. “There are over 50 objections, mostly from the exiting residents of Park House and from the residents of Willow Way which back onto this.
“Many of the objections…are around parking, where they say there’s not enough.
“Space is already at a premium around Loudwater, and I’m always being asked if there’s something that can be done.”
She added: “Already the houses in Willow Way suffer from shadowing in their gardens for many months of the year because of the existing building.
“It’s only in summer when the sun is at its highest that the daylight in the gardens is adequate.
“Once there is another storey on top, that will reduce even more.”
Despite locals branding the scheme an “overdevelopment” that would “dominate the village landscape” and be “far too imposing”, the applicant said the extension ‘will not harm the character of the area’.
Chepping Wycombe Parish Council objected.
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