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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Nick Jackson

Partially-built home with no planning permission may have to be torn down

A partially built family home may have to be torn down because it has no planning permission and breaches fire regulations. The six-bedroom house at 3A Marlborough Road, Flixton also "does not comply with building regulations in respect of fire safety and accessibility".

Graham Ralph, who lives nextdoor to the site, applied for retrospective planning permission for the house which is three storeys high, but it was refused by Trafford's Planning and Development Management Committee. Mr Walsh was granted permission for a four-bedroom two storey house in 2015.

The committee was told the permission had "expired" and that Trafford planning officers considered there is no planning permission for any of the work that has taken place on the site. "The whole development is consequently unauthorised," a report to the committee said.

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It said the scheme currently under construction "differs significantly" from the original scheme. It includes an enlarged single-storey rear element spanning the entire width of the property and has no bay window as per the approved plan. The third level has been added in the roofspace and roof has been altered from the approved hipped pitched roof to a gable roof with a large "mansard" and flat roof.

The report goes on: "The council's building control officer has also confirmed that for building regulations purposes it is a three-storey dwelling. In its current form it would not comply with the building regulations in respect of fire safety and accessibility."

Councillors agreed with their officers' recommendation to refuse the application because "the design of the house as constructed does not reflect local character and distinctiveness and appears as a visually intrusive and incongruous element in the street scene, harmful to the character and appearance of the area".

Speaking for Mr Ralph, Flixton ward Councillor Simon Thomas said it was intended that Mr Ralph would live in the home with his son and daughter-in-law and their children. Coun Thomas said: "Mr Ralph has sought to meet [planning] officers, but this has not come to fruition."

However, Coun Laurence Walsh said the original plan for a "much smaller house" was "more in keeping with the other houses in Marlborough Road". "I have visited the house and I have to say I think the officers have got this right," he said. "It does not fit with the street scene."

Coun Daniel Chalking agreed with him, saying: "I drove down the road and it sticks out like a sore thumb." But Coun Sue Maitland disagreed. She said: "I don't think it looks that bad at all."

She said that other properties on neighbouring Easedale Road have roofs similar 3A Marlborough Road. "There doesn't seem to be any representations from residents [objecting]," she said.

Following refusal the application will now be passed to Trafford's planning compliance team which will review it "in terms of enforcement action", the committee was told.

Mr Ralph has declined to comment.

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