At Sutton Council’s Development Control meeting on 17 July Richard persuaded Councillors to reject a retrospective application relating to the house built at 39A Eaton Road.
The building at 39a Eaton Road has already had two applications rejected by Sutton Council, but the developer had won on appeal.  When a second developer finally started building, he decided to amend the design, thus departing from the design for which he had permission.  Window bays were wider, the height of the building had increased by half a metre, with roof lights projecting above the ridge of the roof by a further half a metre.
Letters of objection had been received from 62 properties.
Richard said: “Local people were unhappy that the developer had failed to understand the principle that, if you have Planning Approval, that is what you build to, and not something else.  Builders know this.  Architects know this, so why didn’t the developer?”

Councillor Mary Burstow said: “When I saw the plans for the first time, I was surprised by how the amendments had increased the buildings size and bulk.  The building no longer looked like a large house, trying to blend in with its neighbours, it looked like an ugly block of flats.”

Should the applicant appeal to the Planning Inspectorate and be unsuccessful he will have to lower the roof height and reduce the width of the window bays.  The cost of doing this will be significant.  Richard said “It is very important the developers understand that Sutton Council is not a soft touch when it comes to planning permission.”