Granny annex in Oakley may be knocked down (From This is Hampshire)
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Granny annex in Oakley may be knocked down
9:00am Saturday 8th September 2012 in News By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter
A ‘GRANNY annex’ in the garden of an Oakley home could be knocked down after the borough council refused to grant retrospective permission.
A Mr Lardides applied to change the use of land at Leydown, St John’s Road, to residential garden, and to retain an existing outbuilding for use as a residential annex for his elderly mother-in-law.
But the development control committee at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council refused the application because of the building’s size and external appearance, and its adverse impact on the character of the area.
Officers said its separation from the main house would be as serious as building a new dwelling in the countryside for “which there is no justification.”
The matter was brought to the committee by Oakley borough councillor Diane Taylor.
In her submission to the committee, she said she wanted the application fully examined and aired out of fairness to the applicant.
She said: “Enforcement is drastic and distressing action.”
The application stated that the building was for the applicant’s mother-in-law, who lives in the Channel Islands but wants to live closer to her daughter.
The applicant argued that the use of the outbuilding for residential purposes would make “efficient and effective use of this sustainable site, which ceased to be used for agricultural purposes many years ago”.
However, the committee heard that Mr Lardides had not been able to prove that the land had been used for residential purposes for 10 years, rather than agricultural.
This has resulted in the council refusing to grant a certificate of lawfulness for it to be used for this purpose, back in January.
At the development control meeting, councillors agreed not to grant permission for the application and to take enforcement action.
The applicant now has six months to remove the building, which has dark timber cladding with gabled slate roof, and has been asked to reinstate the land levels. He can appeal.
