A DEVELOPER has been ordered to lower the height of a house by “the width of a peanut” – costing around £30,000, he claims.
Wayne Low, managing director of Eco Custom Homes says the new build in Beverley, East Yorkshire, is 13mm taller than the approved plans.
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Planning officers for East Riding Council deemed No 3, The Old Racing Stables, in Coombs Yard, off North Bar Within, does not comply with what it signed off in December.
An enforcement notice states the house’s ‘awkward’ appearance is not in-keeping with the historic conservation area.
Mr Low has pledged to launch an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate, which could prove costly for the authority.
He told HullLive: “In the plans that were approved we were allowed to build this 157mm higher than the house to the east, we went 13mm higher than that.
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“If we were to do what these officers say, we would have to somehow raise the roof of a now completed and much sought-after property, remove a few bricks, and put the roof back down, costing us around £30,000.
“I guarantee, no one living next door or any passer-by would notice the slightest difference.”
The house was built on the site of dilapidated former racing stables.
Plans submitted for the house proposed an overall ridge height of 7.167 metres while the eaves would be 5.5 metres.
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A distance of 1.13 metres between the top of the first floor window and the eaves was proposed and approved.
However, planning officers said their measurements showed the ridge was 7.67 metres high, with the eaves measuring 6.14 metres.
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The measurement taken between the top of the first floor windows and the eaves was 1.61 metres, they said.
The enforcement notice also stated clear glass windows used in a section of the property further breached conditions.
The house is close to two Grade II listed buildings.
They stated: “Beverley’s character and appearance is defined not only by the exceptional survival of its medieval settlement plan, but also by the almost uniformly high quality of the built form.
“The continuation of this quality is essential to preserving and enhancing the character and appearance of the conservation area,” they stated. “The dwelling as it has been built does not do so.
“The raising of the eaves height of the building creates an overly large area between the eaves and the lintel of the first floor windows, giving the building a top-heavy and visually awkward character. There is harm caused by the intrusion of an ungainly building which distracts and draws the eye.”
Ex-planning committee chair, Councillor David Nolan, a former chair of the planning committee, is set to raise the issue at the council’s next full meeting on April 5.
He has questioned why the council is incurring such a huge cost in legal fees and staff time “over such a minuscule difference” to the property.
He added that committee members are being told to leave delegated decisions to officers due to short staffing.
Cllr Nolan added: “I want to know why the council is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
A spokesperson for East Riding of Yorkshire Council told the Sun that it had “received a report of a breach of planning control, and, following an investigation, found that the ridge height of the building was 0.5m higher and the eaves height was 0.64m higher than the approved plans”.
They said: “The site is in a sensitive location within the Beverley Conservation Area and in close proximity to a number of significant Listed Buildings.
“The development as built is considered to cause harm to these heritage assets, by virtue of its inappropriate scale and design.
“In particular, the raising of the height of the eaves has created an overly large expanse of brickwork between the eaves and the first-floor windows, which gives the building a top-heavy and visually awkward character.
“It has also created visibly slacker roof pitch which is out of keeping with those that characterise the Conservation Area.
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“The council has issued an Enforcement Notice requiring the development to be built in accordance with the approved plans.
“This has been appealed by the developer and the matter will be considered by an independent planning inspector.”
