AN EXTENSION, branded “pastiche”, to a Victorian coach house in Winchester has been approved by city councillors.

Allison Jowitt proposed a second extension on her home in 10 Compton Road.

The plan generated 12 objections including Alison Davidson, a professional conservation specialist, who said it would harm the streetscape.

Ms Davidson told the planning committee: “A sense of space will be lost with this infilling. It is poorly designed and has an incoherent relationship to buildings. It should remain deferential to 12 Compton Road. It is nothing but pastiche...and a dog’s dinner. Winchester deserves better.”

The scheme did not have an architect but an engineer, said Ms Davidson.

The City of Winchester Trust, preservation watchdogs, also objected.

Local city councillor Charles Radcliffe said: “The residents are united in their dismay at the application before you. I have looked at the planning history which I think can fairly be described as chequered, marred by past planning violations including two retrospective planning applications when the existing building was converted into a separate two-bedroom dwelling.”

He said the proposal threatens “the character of streets that we are trying to preserve.

“That is the risk we run. If you approve it there would be other buildings which might be turned into £2 million houses by developers with an eye for opportunity. Approving it risks opening the floodgates and risk losing what makes these streets so special.”

The planning committee heard Julie Pinnock, head of planning, refute the 'chequered history' claim, with five previous applications dating from 2009 approved, and one withdrawn.

Mrs Jowitt also addressed the committee and denied the extension would harm historical conservation. She said the house had been bought in 2007 when it was in a dilapidated condition and restored and now the time had come to repurpose it as a family home.

Mrs Jowitt later told the Chronicle: "I do not believe this represents a chequered planning history and neither did WCC. We have always acted within planning regulations.

"As the WCC Planning Committee Chair stated, this structure is modest and would barely be seen from the street. Our current property can only be glimpsed from its roof line. Our site is unique on Compton Road, with a vastly different set of characteristics, and arrangement to all other dwellings in the immediate vicinity.

"Our approved application is an adaptive reuse of a building which no longer serves its original purpose. The proposed extension will extend the building’s life, and usefulness, by making it relevant to modern living and future generations."

The committee heard that the coach house and proposed extension were set back on its plot and could only be glimpsed from the road.

Advice to the committee was that the plan would not harm the conservation area.

The committee voted to unanimously approve the application.