Plans by former Northants County Council leader for second home in her garden refused

A planning application by former leader of Northamptonshire County Council Heather Smith to build a second home in her back garden has been refused.
Cllr Heather SmithCllr Heather Smith
Cllr Heather Smith

Members of the planning committee at East Northamptonshire Council voted against the application by the county councillor to build the detached three-bed house in the garden of her property in Church Street, Nassington.

Last month officers had refused the plans using delegated powers.

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However, ward councillor Annabel de Capell Brooke, who is a neighbour of Cllr Smith’s, decided to call the application in for members of the planning committee to decide upon.

The application was refused by nine of the 10 councillors on the committee on Wednesday (June 13) with one abstention.

Officers had recommended that the application be refused because it would have had an ‘unacceptable and overbearing impact on the adjacent premises.’

They also said the home had too large a footprint for narrow gardens and that it would ‘detract from the character and appearance of the settlement and Nassington Conservation Area.’

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Cllr Smith had made the application alongside her next door neighbour who also planned to build a second home.

Nassington is a small village in East Northamptonshire that dates back to Anglo Saxon times.