Residents win approval for home improvements despite intervention by Chiswick councillor Joanna Biddolph

“We are hugely relieved and grateful that common sense has prevailed”

Image: Nick and Claudia Hearne

Residents on the Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate have won their cases to make home improvements after a bitter battle which has split the community on the estate.

Residents at four addresses applied to make changes to their homes, which are in a Conservation Area, and LB Hounslow’s planning department approved their plans, but one of their local councillors, Joanna Biddolph, objected, so the residents have had to argue their cases before the Council’s Planning Committee of 12 councillors.

The argument is about the uniformity of the look of the houses and whether they breach the rules of the Conservation Area.

In the event, the councillors approved the residents’ planning applications with a huge majority, but if they had lost, it would have cost them thousands of pounds.

“We are hugely relieved and grateful that common sense has prevailed”, Claudia Hearne told The Chiswick Calendar. “They tried to bully us, and we said ‘no’”.

Cllr Ron Mushiso addressing the planning meeting, speaking in favour of Nick and Claudia Hearne’s planning application

Issue splits Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors

Cllr Ron Mushiso, who is also a Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillor, spoke against his ward colleague Joanna Biddolph at the planning meeting, and in favour of two of the homeowners. He was, “strongly against” her decision to force the issue to come before the planning committee, he said.

Talking about Claudia and Nick Hearne’s application, he told the committee:

“This case is not about someone flouting the rules or someone ignoring planning policy for personal gain. On the contrary, this is about residents who have worked hard to make their house a home, something we should all encourage”.

“We always say that we want to support residents in taking pride in their homes, creating safe and welcoming spaces for their families. That is exactly what this household has done. They are not developers exploiting loopholes. They are local people investing in where they live and trying to make things better”.

Claudia and Nick Hearne’s Kitchen extension

“It’s not really the money, it’s all the stress and the time we’ve had to put into this”

Claudia and Nick Hearne applied for planning permission for a kitchen extension. They were given approval by Hounslow Council’s planning department, and they went ahead and built it.

One of their neighbours and Cllr Biddolph, who lives nearby, made objections and the dispute has dragged on for three years – “three years of hell”, said Claudia Hearne, costing the Hearnes thousands of pounds.

“If it had gone against us and we had been made to tear it down it would have cost us tens of thousands of pounds” Claudia Hearne told The Chiswick Calendar. “But it’s not really the money, it’s all the stress and the time we’ve had to put into this, and the way it’s divided our community”.

We highlighted their story in March.

READ ALSO: Residents group get together to protest against Hounslow Council’s ‘overbearing and unfair’ planning decisions

The Hearnes submitted their plans in 2021. The extension they built had slight differences to the plans, which they discussed with the planners during construction, and they were told were fine, until Cllr Biddolph became involved, Claudia told the planning meeting on Thursday 12 June. “At that point the Council changed their stance”.

The enforcement team from the Council threatened to make them take their kitchen extension down. They resubmitted their application with some slight differences. The planning department approved it, but two neighbours still objected, as did Cllr Biddolph, who said she was representing their objections at the meeting.

Cllr Joanna Biddolph addressing the planning committee, speaking against of Nick and Claudia Hearne’s planning application

Planners should “preserve the integrity” of the Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate

Joanna urged her fellow councillors “to preserve the integrity” of the Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate.

“This whole estate has been subject to breach after breach after breach by landlords who aren’t bothered that it’s a Conservation Area, who aren’t bothered about getting planning application. It just doesn’t send the right signals to people that actually we care about the Conservation Area guidelines and we want planning to be followed”.

Claudia Hearne addressing the planning committee

Residents should not expect “a knock on the door”

Cllr Mushiso countered with:

“If well-meaning residents who quietly improve their surroundings can now expect a knock on the door and a threat of punishment for simply trying to live well, that’s not the sort of council that we should be representing.

“Planning should be about proportionate responses and common sense. This structure does not undermine the principles of our planning policies. It causes no harm, and it reflects the kind of initiative and care we should welcome in our communities”.

Claudia and Nick Hearne’s planning application was approved by planning committee members by a majority of 11-1.

Outbuildings proposed for demolition and redesign as extra living space (L) 15 Manor Gardens; (R) 3 The Ridgeway

Future potential use of buildings not the concern of the planning committee

The other three applications were from homeowners who wanted to convert sheds or garages at the bottom of their gardens into usable rooms.

Cllr Biddolph told the committee she feared they wanted to create “beds in sheds”, that houses in multiple occupancy were a problem for the borough and were changing the character of the estate and she wanted to “future-proof” the estate from landlords creating independent residential dwellings in their gardens.

The houses in Gunnersbury Park Estate were built for families, she said. They have gardens with garages at the bottom, with access from private service roads behind them. If applicants wanted to put in a toilet and shower, this was a sure sign they would be used as living accommodation, maybe rented out as Air BnB’s or similar, she told the committee.

The Council’s legal representative told the meeting her argument had no relevance to the application process. The potential future use of houses was not within the remit of the planning committee and members should concentrate solely on whether or not the applications met the Council’s planning requirements. The applications were for use as a home gym in one case and storage / study / office space in the others.

The application for 15 Manor Gardens was approved unanimously. The application for 62 Park Drive was approved 10 – 2 with two abstentions and the application for 3 The Ridgeway was approved 11- 1 with one abstention.

Cllr Tom Bruce, Deputy Leader of Hounslow Council, said there needed to be a clear separation between the planning committee members’ role as planners and the Council’s enforcement team.

If buildings weren’t built to the approved plans or if they were not being used in a way that met the conditions of the planning application, residents needed to tell the Council and it would take action. But the planning committee could only act within its remit of approving or turning down applications according to planning guidelines.