Plan to Build Three-Bedroom Bungalow Near Scenic Herefordshire Spot Refused
A plan to build a three-bedroom bungalow at a scenic Herefordshire spot has been refused permission, while the neighbouring listed hotel building has been described as “decaying”.
Henry Danter of the former Doward Hotel, Crocker’s Ash near Whitchurch sought permission for what his application described as a new bungalow to house the manager of the nearby leisure park at Symonds Yat.
The proposal “is driven by a desire to provide my partner with a living arrangement that optimises their daily commute”, an accompanying statement said, adding this would “reduce carbon emissions”.
Mr Danter’s partner is currently living in the 18th century Grade II listed hotel – “but this is becoming more uneconomical as the building deteriorates and becomes more expensive to heat effectively”, it explains.
She “cannot afford the upkeep of the decaying building with the increasing maintenance costs and the forever rising energy costs”, it adds – whereas the new bungalow “will be far more thermally efficient and would cost less to heat”.
Visually, the custom-built house “would be hidden behind trees and would not harm the classic picturesque idiom of the façade being viewed from afar”.
There had previously been ten timber chalets on the other side of the hotel, and when these were removed, “Henry was advised by the planning officer that there would be scope for another dwelling on the site of the cabins along with the two houses at the bottom of the drive”, his statement explains.
But Whitchurch and Ganarew parish council objected to the proposal as being “outside the agreed settlement boundary”.
And Herefordshire Council’s ecology officer Ana Coxixo said her assessment showed the building would “have a likely significant effect on the River Wye SAC (special area of conservation) and Wye Valley Woodlands”.
These points convinced planning officers to refuse permission.
By BBC LDRS
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