The building of a garage and driveway in Bolton will go ahead after being thrown out by the council. 

An application was submitted in February 2023 for a garage on White Lodge Farm in Edgworth to be turned into a 'garden room', with a new garage and driveway to be built adjacent to it. 

Blackburn with Darwen Council rejected the application, refusing to grant it lawful use or development. 

It was refused on March 27 last year, with the council citing that the proposed garage would lie "outside the defined residential garden area". 

An appeal against the decision was made by Mr Ken Warner on behalf of LTW Developments Ltd to The Planning Inspectorate. 

In March this year, the Planning Inspectorate reversed Blackburn with Darwen's decision, permitting the application a certificate of lawful use. 

The Bolton News: White Lodge Farm, EdgworthWhite Lodge Farm, Edgworth (Image: Google Maps)

During the appeal hearing, the council stated that it believed the red-edged area marked on the plan was the extent of the dwelling's "curtilage" - the grounds immediately surrounding a house, and what can be built on with permitted development. 

However, it was confirmed by the appellant that the red-edged line was the application site. 

A Walker MPlan MRTPI, the inspector involved in the case, said "there is no dispute" that the proposal met the listed conditions and limitations. 

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Blackburn with Darwen Council confirmed at the hearing that the proposed conversion of the garage into a garden room would be permitted development, but their objection was that the new garage would be "outside the curtilage of the dwelling" and would not be permitted development. 

Mr Walker said: "The appeal site comprises a substantial, detached dwelling set within extensive grounds with no physical boundary treatment between the dwelling and its immediate surroundings and the surrounding land." 

He added that, although there was an "extensive planning history" for the site, that none of the plans "definitively identif(ied)" the extent of the residential curtilage. 

The Bolton News: A planning document for the proposalsA planning document for the proposals (Image: LTW Developments Ltd)

He added: "Based on the evidence before me and the observations I made on site, the land on which the proposed garage and driveway leading to it would be located is contiguous with the land immediately to the side, front and rear of the dwelling.

"Its proximity to the dwelling, contiguous relationship with the other land immediately adjacent to the dwelling and lack of any physical boundary with it results in it clearly being intimately associated with the dwelling to such an extent that it forms part and parcel of the dwelling.

"As the proposed development would be within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse and would satisfy the requirements of Class A of the GPDO, it would therefore be permitted development."

Concluding, Mr Walker said the council's refusal to grant permission was "not well-founded" and that the appeal should succeed.