A long-running domestic planning saga appears to have reached its end.
The Council has granted consent for a scheme to redesign internal arrangements and, crucially, increase the amount of daylight entering a top-floor flat on Bellevue Terrace (Ref. 12/03250/LBC).
Previous plans for a controversial roof terrace (11/00190/FUL) have been dropped, along with architect Richard Murphy, and instead a more modest proposal has been put forward by Tim Bayman Architecture.
Planners noted that the current, conspicuous uPVC windows did not reflect the stone balustrade's rhythm. They agreed that – whilst original – the storey was probably added for economic reasons only (hence its hidden position behind the balustrade), and had been altered since. They were therefore content for inconspicuous widening of the window openings, and for the insertion of a rooflight in the shallow pitched roof.
They asserted that consenting this scheme in an atypical property would not set an 'undesirable precedent' for similar alterations to other top floor flats in the New Town.
In short, they found that the proposals complied with relevant policies and would have no adverse effect on the character of the listed building or the character and appearance of the conservation area.
For the background to this – at times, farcical – story, see Breaking news (10.2.11;
30.3.11; 7.9.11; 26.9.11; 24.1.12) and Issue 211.