A TWO-storey extension to a Fordingbridge home has been refused, and an appeal by the householder has failed.

Shamsul Ullah wanted to demolish the double garage at his Salisbury Road home, and build a two storey side extension and a first floor dormer at the back.

The house is one of a pair of semi-detached houses, on a corner plot at the junction of Salisbury Road and St George’s Road.

New Forest District Council planners turned it down, and a planning inspector agreed, saying “the excessive width...” would “unbalance the pleasing symmetry of the pair of houses”.

He said: “Thus, this element of the proposal would harm the character and appearance of the house and area.”

Mr Ullah says there is a lapsed permission for a two-storey side extension. But the inspector said he had to consider the application on its own merits.

He concluded: “The proposed development would cause unacceptable harm to the character and appearance of the house and area.

“Therefore, the scheme is contrary to policy CS2 of the Council’s Core Strategy 2009, which seeks amongst other things, that all new development contributes positively to local distinctiveness and is appropriate and sympathetic to its setting in terms of scale, layout and appearance.”