Festing Road Residents Object to House Extension Plans
Scheme involves a roof terrace and air conditioning units
Festing Road in Putney. Picture: Google Streetview
July 19, 2024
Neighbours in Putney's Festing Road are objecting to plans for roof and side extensions to a mid-terrace property in the street.
A scheme has been submitted to Wandsworth Council to add a bedroom and two bathrooms to the house by building a back roof extension and a single-storey side extension. The plans also involve a rear roof terrace and the installation of a back garden air conditioning unit.
The council is seeking comments on the plans until 25 July, and has already received eight objections from neighbours in Festing Road and Rotherwood Road.
In pre-application advice given to the applicants they were told by Wandsworth council planner Samuel Bradley, "The principle of a single-storey rear/side extension would not be objected to. It is acknowledged that several properties within the terrace have similar extensions at ground floor level, meaning that the proposed development would likely conform to the prevailing local spatial character."
But he warned that the height of the proposed extension "would likely be considered excessive", and added "a full assessment would need to be undertaken as part of any planning application to confirm that the amenities of neighbouring occupiers would not be unduly harmed in any way as a result of the proposed development."
One resident in Rotherwood Road, which backs onto the property, said the scheme would be detrimental to local residents. They stated, " A roof terrace would be an overdevelopment and intrusion causing noise, disturbance and loss of privacy to the neighbours and also creating a precedent for other houses in the neighbourhood.
"The installation of an AC unit at the end of the property's garden is objectionable on the grounds of its location and associated noise of the plant and machinery. Most properties install these on the walls or roofs of their own buildings, but this is as far away as possible from the main house, making it physically a lot closer to, and noisier for, immediate neighbours on Rotherwood Road."
Neighbours in Festing Road also said the development would affect their privacy, especially after the applicant has recently removed a tree. "While we are a set of terraced houses which back on to other terraced houses which means we are currently somewhat overlooked, we do not want to add further to being overlooked by a rear terrace directly adjacent to our garden," said one objector.
Other comments included a call for the screening around the balcony to be 1.7m in height, rather than the 1.1m proposed in the application.
A Plant Noise Assessment prepared on behalf of the applicant said that a noise survey demonstrated the AC unit would produce a likely noise level of 29 dBA (the scale used for judging loudness) for a Rotherwood Road resident, against standard limits of 30 dBA.
You can make your own comments by searching for application number 2024/2216 on Wandsworth Council's planning explorer.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |