Mansard Roofs - Latest LBTH advice.

Many Tower Hamlets residents who live in Conservation Areas would like to extend their properties, and last year the council produced an 18-page Mansard Roof Guidance Note to help residents across the borough understand the planning application process.

In addition, last November the Council produced a detailed draft Addendum to the existing Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Guidelines document, for eight of the borough's 58 conservation areas. Tredegar Square (but not Clinton Road) was one of the eight.

The Tredegar Square Addendum was put out for consultation between 23 November 2015 and 18 January 2016. Letters were sent to all the 1,045 addresses within the Tredegar Square Conservation Area informing residents how to engage in the consultation.

The Addendum is very detailed and maps the roof types of all of the non-listed buildings within the Tredegar Square CA. It lists some 47 properties where roof extension/alterations might be considered acceptable subject to a planning application (shown in sky blue below).

The western side of Tredegar Square CA

A few weeks ago, in July, the council published a summary of the consultation responses. If you think local election turnout is poor (52% for Bow West), then goodness knows what you will think of the response to the consultation: Of the 1,045 properties within the Tredegar Square CA, responses were received from a mere 40. Of these, 45% supported the Addendum and 55% objected to it.

On Tuesday 26th July 2016 the Tower Hamlets Cabinet met and formally approved addendums to six of the Conservation Area Management Plans including that for Tredegar Square.

The addendums for Driffield Road and Medway Conservation Areas have not been adopted. Instead, further research is being undertaken to more fully explore the potential for extensions in these areas.

That these two Conservation Areas appear to have received "special treatment" has not gone unnoticed by the Twitterati of Bow. But council planners see these areas as very different to Tredegar Square CA. Driffield and Medway have a consistency in the elevation of streets, unlike Tredegar which has a varied roofscape.

I can't believe it's not Buttermilk

Some MEOT residents are understandably dismayed that whilst some neighbours seem to get away with all sorts (plastic windows, non-traditional paint colours, bungalows at the end of the garden, etc) they can't get permission for what they consider to be sympathetic roof extensions.






This is the list of addresses in Tredegar Square Conservation Area where roof extension/alterations might be considered acceptable subject to a planning application:*

	Property Number
Addington Rd	1 Westwood Mews, 2 Westwood Mews.
Alloway Rd	26
Coborn Rd	14, 55, 57, 59, 59A, 61, 69, 71, 71B.
Grove Rd	4, 4a, 8, 8a, 8b.
Lichfield Rd	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 94, 95, 96, 97.
Morgan St	8A, 8B, 9, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 10A, 10B, 10C.
Pembroke Mews	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Tredegar Square	1B, 1C, 1D.

*Inclusion on the list does not mean that a full mansard is acceptable. Where appropriate, alterations may simply be a small traditional dormer.


I understand the council is going to publish a more detailed summary of the consultation and I will pass that on when I have a copy.