We know that lots of you have an interesting in planning on the Island, so here’s the latest on St Joseph’s in Ventnor – Ed.
It was with great joy on Friday morning, that we received a letter from the Planning Inspectorate stating that they were refusing Michael Jennings’ appeal to use an unauthorised roof terrace at St Joseph’s, Ventnor.
As VB readers will know, the original planning permission stated that the flat roof could not be used as a garden space. Next Jennings put in an application to use it, which was refused by the case officer with the condition attached that the area should be filled in, so that it could not be used in the future.
It is the appeal against the decision to once again refuse use of the roof, made by the IW Council planning department, that was being considered by the Planning Inspectorate.
The Inspector stated that
This would, in my view, lead to an unacceptable loss of privacy for these neighbours and so harm their living conditions. This would be contrary to Policy D1 of the Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan 1996 – 2011.
Thank goodness, sense prevailed.
But …
Unfortunately, what arrived on the same day as this refusal, was notice that Christopher Scott, who are now in charge of the site on behalf of the finance company Close Brothers, have submitted another application, this time to not only retain the increased height of the building that was built without permission, but to increase the height of the parapet roof even further. This will result in yet more daylight being blocked and will seek to avoid the previous IW planning condition, to fill in the flat roof.
Given Christopher Scott and Close Brothers are aware of the history of this and know of the clear concerns about privacy, this, in our view, shows a surprising and disappointing disregard of the neighbouring properties.
Readers of VentnorBlog can look forward to hearing more on this subject over the next week or so.
