An application to retain a modern shopfront that replaced a traditional Conservation Area frontage has been refused.
95 Oak Lane is a dental practice in the North Park Road Conservation Area of the city. Until recently the unit had a traditional timber shop front, but this frontage was replaced with a modern aluminium shop front without planning permission.
Last year David Kaushal applied for retrospective planning permission to retain the unauthorised modern frontage.
The application said: “The former traditional timber shopfront which was in a poor state of repair has been replaced with a more modern contemporary addition to highlight the evolution and not try to match the original design.”
But planning officers have refused the application, saying it “erodes the significance of the Conservation Area.”
Conservation Officer Jon Ackroyd pointed out that it was the latest in a series of unauthorised replacement shop fronts in the Conservation Area.
“Unfortunately several of these (traditional shop fronts) have been replaced without consent with inferior substitutes, harming the appearance and destroying the visual consistency.
“95 Oak Lane had an attractive timber shopfront which was well proportioned, with recessed doorway, decorative glazing which illustrated the attention to detail applied to the whole parade of properties. The replacement shopfront is poorly proportioned, has no decorative features and fails to maintain the quality of its predecessor.
“The effect of poorly designed shopfronts erodes the significance of the conservation area.”
