Homes being built too high ‘now have to be bulldozed’

TWO partially built houses on a new Staffordshire Moorlands development will be demolished after they were built one metre above ground level.

In August, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s planning committee refused an application for the variation of conditions for revisions to plots one and two at the development site on land off Thorley Drive, Cheadle.

It was feared that the new homes would overlook established houses to the rear.

Now the developers have resubmitted a new application which has been put before the planning committee.

In a report to councillors, planning officer Jane Curley said: “The developer is now proposing to amend the finished floor level for plots one and two and lower them by 0.5m to 173.25m.

“As construction has already commenced on these plots, the existing structures will need to be demolished, and this is acknowledged by the developer.

“No other changes are now proposed to the design of the dwellings and the developer is purely seeking approval of finished floor levels under the provisions of the condition attached to the original permission.

“For these reasons, the revised levels for plots one and two are found to be

acceptable and it is not considered that a refusal to discharge the condition on amenity grounds could be sustained.

“It is worth pointing out that the new estate road leading from Ashbourne Road works with existing ground levels.

“The proposal to lower the finished floor level for plots one and two means that these properties will now sit lower than the road, with three steps down to the front door.

“The applicant says that this is the absolute lowest that these plots can be dropped whilst still achieving a gravity drainage connection.

“Notwithstanding this, a further reduction in finished floor level is unlikely to be acceptable in terms of street scene impact as it would result in the dwellings sitting considerably below road level.”

In a letter to the planning committee, Cheadle councillor Richard Alcock said that the developers should be made to lower the plan.

Planning committee member Peter Wilkinson said: “Lowering it half a metre is not going to get where we should be.

“It does not seem the right thing to do.

“All properties will have three steps down and it will be more than 20 inches from the road level.”

Councillors voted eight to three, with one abstention, to approve the new application.

This image provided by residents shows a red line, how the mid-line of the ground floor windows on the new development project into the upper floor windows of Thorley Drive. Two lines show how the ground level has been raised by at least a metre.