Local Exemptions

By Rab MacWilliam

In our last issue, Mortimer Ribbons wrote an article headlined ‘The Area of Exception’ in which he described how Hackney Council were intending to relax restrictions on a number of streets in Stamford Hill, effectively exempting certain local residents from the need to seek planning permission for extensions to their buildings. I asked Mayor Jules Pipe why this is the case.

‘The phrase ‘area of exception’ is an unfortunate description’, he said, as it implies special treatment for one group over another, and indeed the policy is already beginning to polarise opinion in Stamford Hill. Although Jules is technically not responsible for planning, he explained how this has arisen. Between 1997 and 2001, planning had been localised, and the largely Conservative councillors in the area took what could be perceived as a lax attitude to granting permissions for extensions. ‘The first thing we did was to centralise planning when we (Labour) assumed power in 2001’, said Jules, but by then much of the damage had been done.

He had prepared for our meeting by laying on his desk detailed street plans of the area, with the affected houses marked out by red dots: the larger the dot, the uglier the extension. It is interesting to note that some streets in the area do have clusters of dots, while adjacent streets are almost empty of them, and uniformity seems to be absent.

Apparently if there are streets where a significant number of these abominations already exist, then they will be granted planning permission, on the principle of ‘they’ve got extensions on either side of me, why can’t I have one?’ According to Jules, the areas of exception apply only to ‘streets where there has already been significant erosion of Council policy’. The independent Planning Inspector is most unlikely to refuse any appeals in such streets and, rather than incur thousands of pounds of costs in legal fees, Council policy now appears to be, in Jules’ words, ‘a pragmatic response to what will be accepted by the Planning Inspector’.

However, streets which contain perhaps only one or two of these hideous extensions will be most unlikely to receive planning permission for more, if they are deemed ugly or inappropriate to the local environment. Indeed, the Council has issued a document – Residential Extensions and Alterations – containing guidelines as to what is or is not acceptable (this can be downloaded from the Hackney Council website).

The argument will continue as to whether the extensions are for family use or for renting out, but it does seem that, in these particular streets, it may be a problem to prevent their spread.