PLANNING chiefs at Warrington have refused to grant permission for a pergola used for a cooking, eating and drinking area at a Green Belt cottage – even though it has already been built.
The application related to the freestanding pergola at Cuerdon Cottage in Cuerdon Drive, Thelwall.
There were no objections from neighbours, but Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council had opposed the development.
Warrington Borough Council planning officers said the development did not currently benefit from planning permission and the application had been submitted seeking retrospective permission to approval to allow it to remain.
The parish council argued that the pergola would lead to a disproportionate enlargement of a building that had already previously been extended. The development would therefore represent inappropriate development in the Green Belt for which there were no very special circumstances.
However, the applicant said the development did not harm the openness of the Green Belt and represented an appropriate form of development to locate within it.
Officers said the pergola was an inappropriate development that by definition was harmful to the Green Belt. Very special circumstances had not been demonstrated to outweigh that harm.
They described the pergola as having open sides but was “quite substantial” with a solid roof and was fixed into the ground.
