News 2021
CREATE Planning and Design’s success The White Hart PB, Hortholt for hotel redevelopment 21.10.2021
CREATE Design are proud to announce that the Planning Committee at the London Borough of Ealing endorsed their officer’s and GLA’s recommendation to approve planning permission and listed building consent for the restoration and extension of the White Hart Pub, a Grade II listed building and erection of a 103 bed hotel and flexible retail space with public realm and open space.
With it being the largest development the area have seen for many years, the Committee were particularly pleased with the quality of the design and the benefits that the development would bring to the local community, amongst these being the regeneration of the site, restoration of the pub, provision of public realm, provision of community facilities etc.
CREATE Planning’s success Office-to-residential conversion allowed despite policy conflict 24.08.2021
CREATE Planning achieved approval for the conversion of an office to a two-bedroom apartment in a key office area of southwest London was approved despite conflict with local plan policies aiming to retain employment uses.
Comments from the Council and the inspector.
The proposed development would result in the loss of a small office unit to residential use. The inspector held that whilst this would run against the 2018 local plan which strictly protected this office in this area from the change of use proposed, it would be in accordance with the broader policy provisions concerning offices in the more recently published 2021 London Plan which supported the release of surplus office floorspace to other uses including residential.
The council had argued the office was not surplus because it had lost over 30 per cent of office floorspace since 2017 and had made Article 4 Directions to prevent changes of use under the GPDO. However, because of the particular circumstances of this case, the inspector held the proposed change of use would not materially harm the range of office premises, particularly for small and medium sized business activities in the borough’s centres, which the local plan sought to protect. These circumstances included the fact the office could be lost under Class E of the GPDO to another commercial, business or service use without planning permission anyway and the size of this office, its non-level access and displaced parking resulted in it having been unsuccessfully marketed for office use for over two and a half years, making a conversion under the new Class E more likely.
Furthermore, the inspector felt the change of use to residential would reduce the risk of harm from potential alternative commercial uses under Class E to the living conditions of occupiers above and below the appeal unit in the same block. He concluded it would add one further dwelling to housing supply and it would contribute to affordable housing in the borough, social benefits which weighed in favour of the proposal.
Inspector: Patrick Whelan; Hearing