A COUPLE have been told they cannot build an annex in their garden without first obtaining planning permission.
They had hoped to either place a prefabricated “kit” design, or construct a building from scratch, that they would have used for “recreation” and possibly as a “granny flat” with their daughter moving into their home.
Applicant, Mr M Dowell, had asked Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department to issue a certificate of lawfulness for proposed development confirming the annex wouldn’t require planning permission and could be built under permitted development rights.
The intention was for the single storey structure with an open plan living and kitchen area, a utility room and two bedrooms each with their own ensuite bathrooms to be in the garden of Mr Dowell’s semi-detached house located off Cwmavon Road in Abersychan.
But Torfaen planning officer Caroline Pulley said at 13 metres by 6.8m wide it would be the same as a new home and its layout meant it could be used as an “entirely separate self-contained residential unit” without being reliant on the existing home which is essential to be classed as an annex.
Ms Pulley said in her report: “It would contain primary living accommodation and this means that it would not be required for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling.
“As such, based on the evidence provided, the scale of the proposed annexe and its lack of dependency on the existing house for day to day amenities, it is considered that the building would form an independent residential unit, which requires planning permission.”
Its overall height, of 3.5m, also exceeds the three metre maximum for a building to fall within permitted development rights, regardless of its use, while Ms Pulley also noted it is likely ground would have to be cut away to accommodate it which would likely be regarded as engineering works which require planning permission.
Mr Dowell had said in his application the annex wouldn’t be rented, let or ever sold and only used by the couple and immediate family while “it may be used in the future for myself and / or wife as a granny annexe”.
The council refused to issue the certificate.
