Councillor finally gets approval for windows on £800k home

A councillor who fell foul of his own planning committee over the unauthorised installation of uPVC windows at his £800,000 home in Bowdon has finally been given consent after agreeing to replace them with timber frames. Coun Phil Eckersley will now spend thousands installing the ‘acceptable’ windows of the Grange Road home to bring it into line with the regulations of the Bowdown Conservation Area. It was the third attempt by Coun Eckersley to get the plans for the renovations to his home approved by colleagues he normally sits with on the planning committee.

A report presented to the planning committee said: “The replacement of the dwelling’s historic timber windows with wood-effect uPVC windows has resulted in harm to the character and appearance of the building. “It is noted that all historic timber windows have now been removed from the property, including the distinctive casement windows. The current application seeks to address this harm through the replacement of the unauthorised uPVC windows to the front elevation of the property with new timber windows to be installed.



” It said that the replacement windows are to replicate the ‘casement style’ of the previous historic windows in terms of their design and method of opening. The report said that the timber windows would correspond with the adjoining semi-detached property and would be ‘sympathetic to the wider street scene’. Coun Simon Thomas said: “I am relieved to see that Coun Eckersley has agreed to the recommendations.

I think it’s important that when heritage assets like this come forward that we do preserve them. “I don’t think for one minute that Coun Eckersley had any intention to degrade the area or do things out of line but it does show that the planning team are here to give advice and help and this could’ve been avoided, but it’s brilliant to see that he’s taken everything on board. Coun Balil Babar described the outcome is ‘a relief’.

“It’s a reminder for any applicant that when they make an application it’s always a good idea to work with the planning team and go with the pre-application advice,” he said. Chair Coun Barry Winstanley reiterated the ‘advantage of working with the officers in a cooperative fashion’. The revised planning application was unanimously approved.

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