Project Overview
Bell Cornwell assisted a local car dealer in gaining planning permission for the development of a prominent site on the A33 between Reading and Basingstoke with a new car showroom. The site is in the open countryside, adjacent to a Grade II Listed building and in a designated Historic Parkland.
The site was formerly occupied by a restaurant building but has remained empty for over 5 years.
Prior to our involvement, a previous application had been refused and dismissed on appeal for a number of reasons including the impact on the open countryside and the listed building as well as concern over general paraphernalia associated with car sales buildings.
Following extensive input into the design of the building and the site layout, an application was submitted to the Council who were satisfied with the design and site layout. Their remaining concern was the general paraphernalia identified by the Inspector.
Having refused the application on these grounds, we again appealed the decision and successfully argued that the previous Inspector did not rule out the principle of a car sales business on the site and that the amended design would be less conducive to the brash displays that had previously been of concern. It was concluded that the Council would have sufficient control over the advertising, bunting etc for the character of the countryside and the listed building to be preserved.
