COUNCIL planners have vetoed a bid to turn a small semi-detached home in Stanford-le-Hope into three separate dwellings.

The applicants wanted to convert the current traditionally-styled three bedroomed property on King Edward's Road into two separate apartments containing two bedrooms, while the adjacent detached garage would be demolished and a new two bedroom home built in its place.

The applicants say their plan is to create a two two bedroom ground floor flat with a gross internal floor area of 61.51 sqm2. At first floor level the second apartment would have a floor area of 40.80 sqm2 providing one bedroom and the loft conversion would provide the second bedroom and en-suite with a floor area of 18.19sqm2.

No parking is to be provided for the occupiers of the flats.

The existing detached garage would be demolished to provide a two storey dwelling with the entrance accessed to the side of the dwelling. The dwelling would provide 74 sqm2 of floor space providing a living room/kitchen dining area on the ground floor with two bedrooms and two en-suites to the first floor, with the addition of 92.sqm2 of amenity area to the rear. The site would provide two off street parking spaces for the new dwelling.

There were two objections to the scheme from local residents, with both citing existing traffic and parking problems and saying the new development would only make things worse.

That is a view shared by planners, who also gave the lack of parking for the flats as a significant reason to reject the proposal. They also said: "The design falls below the high standard that would be expected, and the house in isolation is considered to be unacceptable.

"The proposed new dwelling, in isolation, by reason of its bland design and form and overall appearance would fail to meet the high standards required by the council's core strategy. The proposed dwelling, by reason of its location between a pair of semidetached dwellings, combined with its design would appear out of character within the wider street scene resulting in an incongruous and unsympathetic feature. This would adversely impact upon the character and appearance of the immediate street scene.

"The shortcomings identified indicated that a proposed detached dwelling on the plot is symptomatic of overdevelopment of the site."

Details of the application and the council's report and decision can be found via this link.