The structure measured 3.3m by 3.3m with 1m high balustrades and a wooden skirt about 50cm deep on two sides. It had been assembled on site and was used as a sitting-out area bolted to the rear steps of the house.
The inspector agreed that it had involved a building operation. In his opinion, it was not permitted by class F, part 1, schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 1995 because it comprised a structure or erection and not the formation of a hard surface.
In deciding whether the patio formed an extension to the house permitted under class A, the inspector noted that the rear garden faced onto a path that comprised a highway along which people could pass. It could not be permitted under class A because it was closer to this highway than the nearest part of the original house, he reasoned. Neither was it permitted under part E because its cubic capacity exceeded the 10m3 limit, he held.
DCS No: 100039809; Inspector: David Rusdale; Hearing.
