Our client had bought the building with a Class Q conversion permission in place, however they want to lengthen the building, increase the height of the building and also apply external insulation to the building to attain higher insulation standards, all of which wouldn't be allowed under Class Q.
RCC therefore prepared a full application was this proposal using the argument that the Class Q approval was a genuine fall back position and that the changes proposed caused no material harm beyond the Class Q approval. Such an approach followed well established case law. The building also lay just beyond the settlement boundary and the council was not meeting its 5 year housing land supply requirements, hence we were confident that the case could be made for this large building.
The council planners however were very delayed in their decision making and failed to accept the case put forward and required further information on the structural integrity of the building for these new works. Our clients agreed to get this further unjustified work done in order to expedite the matter and we were delighted when permission was forthcoming.
