EACH week, hundreds of planning applications come before Cornwall Council’s planning department, seeking to win approval for various plans right across the Duchy.

These plans can comprise of a number of different reasonings– ranging from permission to replace windows or listed building consent ranging up to large house building developments or changing of use of a building, for instance, from an office to a café, or flats.

Within this large and often complex system, there are a number of formats from which planning advice and approval can be sought.

These range from full applications where all the details which comprise a proposed development or work to a building are submitted, to outline applications, where further details are yet to be confirmed, for example, an outline application with reserved matters for appearance may not confirm the final proposed development but rather seek permission in principle.

An example of this is one for an outline permission for 20 dwellings on land with reserved matters for appearance and scale; the reserved matters would require further permission later for their inclusion.

Other types of applications include pre-application advice requests, where would-be developers submit often outline proposals to a local authority to ascertain whether it is likely to gain support or not prior to submitting a planning application.

The vast majority of applications are decided by planning officers employed by a local authority under ‘delegated powers’, meaning they do so on behalf of their employer, however, some applications are ‘called in’ by local councillors to be discussed at an area’s strategic planning committee meeting, meaning the final decision rests with a committee of councillors.

PLANS for the extension and alterations to a dwelling on the outskirts of Bodmin were refused again by Cornwall Council’s planning department, despite the applicant stating that the plans resubmitted had addressed the reasons that the proposals were refused.

Mr Dave Nottle applied to the local authority seeking permission to undertake work on an extension and alterations to his dwelling on Roseland Road, Bodmin.

In its letter to the council, the planning agent for the applicant stated: “The site has recently been subject to a refused application (PA24/07081), where concerns were raised in relation to the site. The proposed development is a revised version of the previously refused application, and this statement will set out the differences between this, and the previous application.

“The Refusal Notice for PA24/07081 gave a single reason for refusal. This was as follows: ‘The proposed infill first floor extension and works to the front garden would in architectural expression and loss of verdant planting respectively constitute an incongruous discordant form of development that fails to represent an appropriate understanding of and response to the townscape or nearby Conservation Area.’

“Following on from this refusal, this application has taken into account the reason for refusal, and a more sensitively designed scheme is now proposed. The primary difference between the proposed development, and application PA24/07081 is that the proposed parking area which was part of PA24/07081 is not included as part of this proposal.

“The omission of this from the proposed development is in response to concerns raised by Cornwall Council, and as such, this is not present in the revised scheme. Another difference between the proposed development and application PA24/07081 is that while the proposed development will still infill a balcony on the northwest, there will now be an additional window on the northwest elevation.

“This additional window is proposed in order to retain the ‘sense of balance’ which Cornwall Council were concerned would be lost by the previous scheme. The proposed infilling of the balcony is for practicality purposes, as the existing balcony now leaks. The balcony continues to leak despite works previously having been undertaken to address this, and the applicant is beginning to become concerned about problems which may arise as a result of the leak further down the line in the form of damage to the property.

“The proposed infilling of the balcony will address the issue of leaking, and prevent further problems from arising, it is considered that the proposed infilling of the balcony is supported by the requirement within Policy 12 of the Cornwall Local Plan for the design of development to be safe and sustainable.

“It should also be noted that the proposed extension is of a similar size, scale and bulk to what would be acceptable under Permitted Development. The size and scale of what would fall under Permitted Development should be considered as a fallback position for the proposed development to be considered against. As there were not concerns raised by the LPA about other aspects of the proposed development, these will not be discussed in this statement.”

However, this argument did not convince Cornwall Council’s planners who once again refused planning permission for the development.

Citing concerns over the ‘architectural expression’, the authority told Mr Nottle: “The proposed infill first floor extension would in architectural expression constitute an incongruous discordant form of development that fails to represent an appropriate understanding of and response to the street scene and townscape.

“The proposal accordingly fails to represent good design.”

Bodmin Town Council, as a statutory consultee had supported the application.

MORE shopping choice could be coming the way of residents in Liskeard after supermarket Aldi submitted proposals to extend their store.

The supermarket chain is seeking to extend the construction of the existing store to provide more retail and warehousing space, as well as increasing the number of parking spaces available on the site with the construction of a new car park on currently vacant land across the road from the store.

If approved, the plans would see the store’s trading size expand by an extra 283 square metres (sqm).

There would also be an additional 32 car parking spaces installed at the site, which would also include provision for 20 electric vehicle charging point spaces if future demand necessitates it.

In giving their reasons behind the plans, the supermarket chain told Cornwall Council that it would offer a chance to extend retail provisions in a prominent residential area, bring new life to an unused site in need of development and with it being an extension of a ‘discount food outlet’ would increase the provision of valuable service to the local community enhancing consumer choice.

In the submission, planners behind the proposal stated: “The proposals comprise an extension to the existing food store (retail, warehouse and welfare areas), as well as an extension to the existing car park to the east of the store. The extended food store will have a GEA (Gross External Area) of approximately 1,928 sqm (currently 1,375 sqm GEA) and results in an overall increase of 553 sqm (GEA).

“The existing net retail area totals 825 sqm of Gross Internal Area (GIA), whilst the rest of the store comprises 290 sqm (GIA) of warehouse space and 88 sqm (GIA) of welfare space.

“The proposal will also result in a new customer site entrance off Aries Hill into the proposed car park, with a pedestrian access to the store crossing Clemo Road via a new pedestrian crossing using existing dropped kerbs.

“The design of the proposed store extension reflects Aldi’s modern branding whilst complimenting the surrounding character in terms of material and scale, as well as the existing store. The height of the new elements will be limited to one storey, reflective of immediate neighbouring structures.

The full proposals can be viewed on the Cornwall Council planning portal under reference PA24/09331

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