A SUMMER house built in the style of a Roman Villa has upset neighbours in a leafy Victorian Conservation Area at Grappenhall.
The brick-built building has two chimneys which are visible from adjoining houses.
Now a retrospective planning application that would retain the summer house but reduce the height of the chimneys and roof is to come before Warrington Borough Council’s development management committee on Thursday.
Officers are recommending the development in the garden at a large, three-storey house of a Tudor revival architectural style house in Chester Road, Grappenhall, be approved.
Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council, borough councillor Ryan Bate and four neighbours have lodged objections on the grounds of loss of privacy, the potential for smoke and fumes, over-development and being out of character with the Conservation Area.
One objector says the building is more in the style of a Roman Villa than Victorian.
An officer report to the committee states the building is intended to be used as a garden room. It has no kitchen or toilet.
The new application would reduce the height of the roof by 675mm and the chimneys by 1155mm. This would mean the chimneys could still be seen from neighbouring properties but would be less visible. They could not be reduced more and remain effective.
While the original building, as built, was out of scale with the house, the principle of the development was acceptable and the revised building would be unlikely to be visible from Chester Road. Overall it was considered the development would not detract from the Conservation Area nor have unacceptable impacts on visual or residential amenity.
