Location:
City of London Corporation
Issue:
Overcoming the City of London Corporation’s previous reluctance to allow longer hours of use for a roof terrace
How we helped and added value:
Our client approached us to seek consent to extend the hours of operation of a roof terrace. We identified that this could be achieved by varying a condition on the original planning permission. We then sought to agree this approach informally with the City of London, which was initially met with resistance from the planning officers on the basis that the current hours reflected the proximity of residents and the Corporation’s general approach to restricting hours of use of terraces.
We conducted a detailed review of existing planning consents in the vicinity of the area whereby an extension to the operating hours of external terraces had been allowed, and used these to demonstrate that a more flexible approach to the operating hours had indeed already been established in the City. We also advised the client to commission a Noise Assessment to help demonstrate that there would be no justification to restricting the operational hours of the terraces, given the existing background noise levels in the area and clarifying that the use of the terraces would remain the same as existing.
We liaised closely with the City of London Corporation’s Environmental Health Officer, who supported our request to extend the hours of use based on the evidence we had presented. We then held further conversations with the Planning Officer, who - based on the evidence and the view of the Environmental Health Officer - then agreed to the extended hours. He also agreed that no further conditions would be added that might restrict the number of occasions / events that the terraces can be used annually or to limit the number of persons that could occupy the external terraces.
Our considered preparation of the scheme strategy successfully achieved the desired development for our client in the face of the initial resistance received from the Council.
