Extension of High Wycombe HMO refused

Bucks Council has refused a planning application submitted by Sheraton Dwellings Limited for 193 West Wycombe Road.

Plans detailed the ‘construction of a three-storey side extension to the existing house in multiple occupation (HMO), for provision of ten additional letting rooms, and external works’.

Five parking spaces would have been retained.

The site 

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“This form of development provides much needed accommodation and relates well to other similar uses within the vicinity,” a chartered architect for the applicant wrote.

They added: “With regard to the parking provision on site, we are retaining the existing five spaces. This will be more than adequate for 17 bedrooms, especially given…a flexible approach is encouraged with HMO uses.”

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But the council said the extension “would appear unduly prominent and out of keeping” with the area.

It said it would “fail to provide adequate car parking” and would “be likely to lead to additional on-street parking, to the detriment of public and highway safety”.

It added: “The proposed development would result in an intensification of use of an existing access, at a point where visibility is substandard and would lead to danger and inconvenience to people using it and to highway users in general.”

The application was refused in August, having been submitted a year earlier.

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