17 Sun Hill, Cowes.
LETTERSFrom David Parkinson, Wootton Bridge:
I WAS intrigued to see a picture of the development at 17 Sun Hill (CP, 12-03-10) as I took an identical photograph of this cottage only a few weeks ago while walking through Cowes.
The photograph was taken because I was intrigued by the design and could see at once the architect had strived to produce something novel, which would still fit well into the vernacular style of the street in which it is located.
I do not know the gentleman concerned in this case, but I was horrified to learn that a planning inspector has upheld the IW Council’s decision that it must be demolished.
It seems large-scale apartment developments by nationally known contractors, who are known to use the appeals process with zeal, are all-too-easily approved, but the work of an individual architect trying to create something new with more than a passing nod at its surroundings is to be demolished because it infringes the original permitted development.
Conservation area or not — its high time our planners had the guts to stop taking the safe option every time someone tries to build something a little more unusual than expected. How else did the old buildings we admire today ever get built?