Honours even in plan appeals
9:18am Thursday 4th August 2005 in Sport
SIX out of 11 of the latest planning appeals in St Albans went against the district council, allowing the developments to go ahead.
Of appeals against refusal to grant planning permission determined in June, 54 per cent were successful, well above the national average of 36 per cent.
Successful appellants include a Bricket Wood couple, Mr and Mrs Hefferman of The Crescent, who converted their bungalow into a house but whose neighbours objected.
The council refused permission, but a government inspector agreed with the Heffermans that the development, largely already built, did not unduly affect neighbours' privacy or spoil the character of the street.
Other successful appeals include the Brittania Building Society's application for illuminated signs at its St Peter's Street branch, an outhouse in Clarence Road, and conversion of a flat in Wheathampstead into a beauty salon.
But refusal of planning permission was upheld for a portable building in a car park in Harpenden, and alterations to a home in Oxford Avenue, St Albans. The council is now easily exceeding government targets for dealing with applications, following controversial changes to speed up the system implemented last year.
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