A PLAN to erect a detached garden room in the front garden of a Victorian house in a conservation area at Lymm has been refused for a second time by Warrington planners.
The proposal sought to place the timber summerhouse in the garden of the locally listed house in Brookfield Road, Lymm at its junction with Church Road.
A previous application in 2021 was refused on the grounds it was inappropriate development on a prominent corner site in the conservation area.
The new scheme involved moving the building further back from the road so it would be screened by existing vegetation, sinking it into the garden by 0.3m and including a 2m high fence around the corner of the garden.
There were no objections from neighbours although Lymm Parish Council expressed concerns.
The borough council’s conservation officer recommended the proposal again be refused and said it would have a negative impact on the setting of the locally listed building and the character and appearance of the Eagle Brow conservation area.
But for existing hedging, a significant part of the summerhouse would feature prominently in views of the locally listed building and views through the conservation area as seen from the public realm, he said.
For the applicant it was stated that the ethos of the scheme was based on providing a simple, high-quality wooden-framed building in a discrete corner of the garden to allow the applicant and his family to enjoy their gardens and views of the house.
The position chosen ensured that the garden room would cause no adverse effect to the area or adjacent occupiers. The structure would be small in scale and placed adjacent to dense, mature landscaping.
Unlike the previous proposal, the garden room would be set further away from the site boundaries to ensure existing landscaping remained untouched, with boundary screening enhanced further by the fence which would be set behind trees, hedges and shrubs.
People using the adjacent road and pavement would not be able to see the structure.
“It is considered that the proposed garden room does not represent any harm to the character or appearance of the conservation area or the locally listed building in whose curtilage it is proposed to stand.”
