In an application refused last August, Dafydd Phillips, of nearby Ffosyffin, sought permission from Ceredigion planners to convert the former Wright Bookmakers, Castle Lane, Aberaeron to a one-bed dwelling, with the removal of a flat roof and a first-floor extension.
The bookies, in a 1965 building in the town’s conservation area to the rear of the Prince of Wales public house, closed in 2018, and was described as “falling into a state of disrepair”.
A supporting statement through agent Morgan & Flynn Architectural Services said the current building is “not providing a sympathetic approach in appearance to the setting of the conservation area, and therefore means that it provides little evidential value,” adding it “actually creates an eyesore that is not sympathetic to its surroundings”.
An officer report, recommending refusal, said: “Whilst [the planning authority] agrees that the loss of the existing building would not be particularly impactful on the conservation area as a whole due to the building being a relatively recent addition to Aberaeron and having little architectural merit given its context, the design for the proposed dwelling is not deemed acceptable.”
It also said affordable housing policy placed a requirement for a commuted sum at the equivalent value of 10 per cent of the open market value, but no such agreement had been entered at the time of the application.
It was refused on the grounds of “inappropriate design that fails to positively contribute to the context of its location and surroundings, due to the sensitivity of its setting within a Conservation area and close proximity to numerous listed buildings” and no formal Section 106 legal agreement being entered into.
Following the refusal, an appeal was lodged with was the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).
An inspector report following a site visit in July said the intended scheme “would double the height of the building, raising it above the predominantly single storey rear lane buildings and boundaries, and substantially increasing its prominence,” which “would unacceptably alter the significance of the dwellings’ historically taller form and harm the experience and understanding of the historical hierarchy between the dwellings and the more subservient lane structures”.
On the issue of affordable housing contributions, the report said: “Although the appellant indicated a willingness to make an appropriate contribution to meet Policy S05 requirements, no mechanism was provided to secure such a contribution at the application stage,” and an undertaking to provide a contribution, in support of the appeal, did not satisfy the inspector that it “would secure the necessary contribution to affordable housing”.
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