FERNHURST NEW BUILD
WON ON APPEAL
Sector
Residential
Location
Fernhurst, West Sussex
Status
Recently completed
A new home and garage in Fernhurst, in the South Downs National Park. Refused at first, allowed on appeal and recently completed.
The plot is part of a large garden in Fernhurst, set behind the older houses on the road and inside the village's settlement boundary.
Project: a new house and detached garage
Where: Fernhurst, West Sussex, in the South Downs National Park
Planning authority: South Downs National Park Authority, with the application handled by Chichester District Council
Refused: September 2020
Appeal allowed: 8 June 2021, following a site visit from the Inspector
Our role: design, the planning application, and the evidence and revised design for the appeal
Status: recently completed
Can you build a new house in a garden in Fernhurst?
Yes, if the design is right. The plot sits inside Fernhurst's settlement boundary, and the Planning Inspector found that homes built behind older roadside houses are common in this part of the village, and that this plot was comparable in size with its neighbours.
Design visual, based on the approved drawings
Design visual, based on the approved drawings
Design visual, based on the approved drawings
How did we design it for the village?
We set the brief from our own research into the South Downs Local Plan, the Fernhurst Neighbourhood Plan and the Dark Sky Reserve rules: keep the house low, use a hipped roof, keep flat roof to a minimum, and take the cue from Fernhurst's own houses.
So the first floor sits inside a clay-tiled barn-hip roof, lit by tile-hung dormers with scalloped flashings beneath them. Soldier courses of brick sit over the ground-floor windows, with a dentil course in the brickwork and an open canopy porch at the front: the details the Neighbourhood Plan asks for.
Glazing was kept modest on purpose. Fernhurst lies in the darkest zone of the South Downs International Dark Sky Reserve, where light spilling from a house matters as much as how it looks by day.
Village
Craft
Appeal
Why was the planning application refused?
In September 2020 the application was refused. The house was judged unduly cramped for its plot, and there were concerns about noise from cars using the drive to the garage.
How did we help win the appeal?
Working alongside the appeal team, we built the evidence. We mapped every plot and house around the site to show this one was in keeping with its neighbours, and the Inspector included that drawing among the approved plans. We also revised the design: the front dormers set back, the rear dormer removed and the window openings changed.
On 8 June 2021, following a site visit from the Inspector, the appeal was allowed. The Inspector found that only the very top of the roof would be seen above the surrounding houses, that the house would sit lower than the existing house beside it and step down sensibly to the bungalow next door, that it would not be cramped, and that it would preserve the natural beauty of the South Downs National Park.
What did the planning permission require?
A higher standard of building: carbon emissions cut by 19% through the building fabric plus a further 20% from on-site renewable energy, an electric car charging point, and water use capped at 110 litres per person per day. The landscaping keeps the existing trees and adds about 100 metres of new native hedging, with a permeable shingle drive.
Images are design visuals, based on the approved drawings. Planning a new home or extension in Fernhurst or the South Downs? Call the studio on 01428 658703, or read more about designing and gaining planning in Fernhurst.
