Pond Cottage, Wilmington
Overview
A bespoke single storey ancillary residential annexe with associated landscaping has been allowed at Appeal in the grounds of a Grade II Listed Building at Pond Cottage, Wilmington.
The Appeal scheme included the widening of the existing garage and the removal of the existing ancillary accommodation (wooden outbuildings to the rear of the garage).
The Appeal was lodged in response to the South Downs National Park Authority’s refusal of permission on the grounds of the proposed annexe building having a negative effect upon the character and appearance of Pond Cottage and the surrounding landscaping, both of which form part of the South Downs National Park.
The proposed annexe and widened garage had been designed sensitively and sympathetically to the Grade II Listed Building and its open and rural setting. Therefore in respect of this, the Inspector concluded that the ‘development as proposed would not bring about any adverse impact upon the character and appearance of Pond Cottage or that of the surrounding landscape’.
The site has a number of outbuildings within the curtilage, including a garage and modern timber annexe buildings with mineral felt covered roofs. The Inspector placed great weight on the removal of these dilapidated outbuildings, which not only have a harmful impact on the South Downs National Park but the setting of the Listed Building.
By contrast, the high quality, innovative and contemporary annexe is to be set into the slope of the garden and screened in views from the open Download to the rear by dedicated landscaping.