Casebook: Community facilities - Lamp standards held intrusive to area

Planning, 18 July 2008

The inspector remarked that the village lay in an area of countryside that was generally very dark and that street lighting was sparse. She found the large number of lights at the appeal site very noticeable. Apart from being points of light, she noted that they also lit up the foliage of trees along a lane. In her opinion, this detracted from the rural character that was an important element of the village conservation area.

She also considered that the columns, which were made from dark green aluminium and carried Victorian-style lanterns, were harmful to the setting of the listed building. She asserted that there were too many of them, they were too close together and the design was unnecessarily fussy and out of keeping with the style of the building.

The appellant maintained that the lights were needed to make walking or driving around the property safe. But the inspector did not find that this justified the use of the particular lamp standards that had been installed. The rest of the village appeared to be able to function without a similar level of illumination, she remarked.

DCS Number 100-055-945

Inspector Jean Jones; Hearing.