A restaurant is not allowed to operate on its first floor after a planning application was refused on appeal. Brighton and Hove City Council turned down a planning application from Persia, in Church Road, Hove, to use its first floor as a restaurant and the second floor as a staff flat. The owner of the business Ebad Abdulkhani also applied for part-retrospective permission for a first-floor extension.
Council officials rejected the proposal in June last year, saying the extension was an “over-prominent development which results in a poor relationship with adjoining properties and a harmful impact on the street scape”. The first floor used to be part of a maisonette and the second reason for refusal was the loss of accommodation. Persia appealed against the council’s decision, saying the extension would be in keeping with the Cliftonville Conservation Area.
It said: “The appellant’s case is that the flat-roofed rear extension is sympathetic to the form and detail of the host building and neighbours while being visible only at a limited point on the streetscape. “From where it can be seen, the extension aligns with the clear characteristics of the rear building lines in the immediacy.” Dismissing the appeal, a planning inspector said: “The roof of the proposal would be flat and, while I note the council’s concerns, the small extensions that are generally characteristic of the area are generally flat-roofed and therefore this particular aspect of the design is.
