Hounslow to Abolish Chiswick Home Improvement Rights
Hounslow is planning to abolish some Chiswick residents’ home improvement rights (aka “permitted development rights”) by imposing “Conservation Status” on several areas within Chiswick including the Glebe Estate.Once adopted the council can restrict home improvements such as loft and other extensions, choices of replacement windows & doors, garden walls, external decorations etc and the pruning of trees.Several neighbours have protested at the unnecessary imposition of these controls on an estate that has rarely looked better & where permitted development rights can really only be exercised, out of sight, at the back of terraced houses where they do not affect the estate’s “look and feel”.Residents of the estate previously voted 60:40 against such a proposal and aware of that vote, the council is forcing through an online survey of opinion with a deadline that expires before COVID restrictions end thereby preventing neighbours from discussing their replies or holding another public debate. The planning department says there is no statutory obligation to consult residents before removing their home improvement rights, it has not done so in the past and does not intend to do so now. Cynically it did agree to extend the survey deadline by 30 days but not long enough to escape COVID lock-down.This is an undemocratic and unnecessary infringement of our rights at a time when home owners are otherwise preoccupied, have no chance of protesting and no way of ensuring that the council’s powers are being used properly of proportionately. These extra planning controls will increase the costs of maintaining properties, restrict investment and ultimately force poorer residents off the estate - a seemingly perverse objective for a labour run council.https://sites.google.com/view/glebenoFocus on the estate's future!
John Haftke ● 2053d15 Comments ● 2051d