Appeal over building Greycaine Road floor of flats begins

Watford Borough Council shot down a planning application last May for a third floor to be built above an office building in Greycaine Road, North Watford.

While the site was formerly just an office block, an application under permitted development rights turned the first and second floors into flats. This was granted in 2018, before a 2019 rule change restricting residential use within the industrial area came into force.

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Building another floor with two more two-bedroom flats did not fall under a permitted development rights and so the full planning application was required, which was rejected.

An appeal bid was then launched in November last year and the process began on Monday (February 12).

The council felt that the Greycaine industrial area is not a suitable location for residential development, lacking “a sense of place” and offering poor access to amenities.

The building, in Greycaine Road. (Image: Google Street View)

However, the applicant’s statement of case principally highlighted that “it is matter of fact that the appeal site is already in residential use”.

The existing flats in the building are apparently consistently occupied and popular and this is given as “proof the proposed flats will also function well”.

Statements of case are required by March 18 and any final comments will be needed by April 1.