A PLANNING consultant has got councillors’ ‘backs-up’ during a planning meeting to decide the fate of new family houses in a village. 

During the Winchester City Council planning meeting on January 10, Dale Whitfield, of B+P Architects, incurred the wrath of the committee's chairman after backing his client Jack Sowden's bid to demolish a large house and replace it with three five-bedroom homes.

Planning officers recommended approving the scheme, at Wildwood in Fairfield Road, Shawford.

Mr Whitfield said the planning officer’s recommendation should be listened to and he would appeal if the application was refused.

He said: “We have the case officer’s report for approval and I think their opinion is finite and takes precedence over everyone else’s.

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“I’ll add we are only here today out of a formality because we received six neighbouring objections. Any other local authority that doesn’t have this requirement would be through with approval by now.

“Finally, last point I’ll make, we come here today with a recommendation for approval. If it’s refused today, we’re only going to appeal. And going to appeal with a recommendation plus a case officer’s report that proves we comply with all relevant local policy there’s only going to be one outcome. 

“So, I’d encourage you to protect the case officer and avoid wasting anyone’s time or money.”

Cllr Jane Rutter said: “I tend to agree that threatening the planning committee with going straight to appeal if we refuse their application is not a good policy on the part of the applicant. And I would recommend that future applicants don’t do that because it just gets our backs-up.”

Earlier in the meeting, planning consultant Ian Donohue spoke on behalf of objecting residents. He said: "This will have a detrimental impact on the street scene and cause overdevelopment. The poor layout should be addressed to remove the overbearing impact."

Hampshire Chronicle: Ian Donohue

Cllr Michael Read gave reasons for his uncertainty and felt it might not be right for the plot regarding the size of the houses.

He said: “They seem to be shoehorning in as much as they can possibly get away with. I’m not convinced this is the right application to approve.”

Cllr Brian Laming said: “The whole character of the neighbourhood will be changed by putting the houses so close together.”

The scheme was permitted by seven votes to two.