At last the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) have been brought to heel in their approach toward the assessment of basement excavations.
RBKC has recently been defeated in the High Court over the restrictions that should be applied to basement developments.
The Councils legal team were seeking a judgment clarifying whether a rule limiting permitted development on home extensions “where the enlarged part of the dwelling house would have more than one storey” applies when a new floor is added below an existing house.
The case relates to the way the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) order 2015 is applied to the construction of basements under residential properties.
In essence, the Council were contending was that a basement could not be regarded as a single storey extension because when taken into consideration with the original house, it would be a multi-storey extension – contrary to the single storey rules of permitted development.
This bizarre interpretation of what is tried and tested legislation was given short-shrift by the High Court, with Patterson J telling lawyers part way through the first days hearing that she had enough information to come to a judgment.
Patterson J said that RBKC interpretation of the Regulations was “artificial”.
“The question being asked is ‘would the enlargement of the original dwelling house be more than one storey?’ The answer is ‘no’,” she said. “What was to be constructed was a single-storey basement.”
This is a sound judgement based on a logical and straightforward reading of the Regulations and we are pleased that the High Court has brought some sense back to the debate. It will be interesting to see whether those householders who were refused permitted development certificates for basements on the basis of the Royal Borough’s legally incorrect interpretation may now seek compensation.
In a further anti-basement move, RBKC have issued an Article 4 direction, which seeks to remove permitted development rights for basement developments across the entire Borough. We await the legal challenge with interest!
Please contact Kieron Hodgson, or your usual Iceni contact if you have any questions relating to this.