12-14 Palatine Road

White Peak Planning was originally instructed by J.P.S Property Company Ltd to submit a planning application seeking permission for the conversion of 10 residential apartments on Palatine Road, Withington, Manchester to offices for use as a Business Centre.

The application was refused by Manchester City Council for two reasons. Firstly, it was considered that the loss of the residential apartments would be detrimental to the sustainability of the community and secondly, as the site was outside of a designated employment area, it was contrary to policy.

We advised the client that there were strong grounds to appeal the decision and were instructed to submit an appeal via the written rep’s procedure.

We successfully argued that the site is in an edge of centre location and undertook a sequential assessment to demonstrate that there were no available, suitable or viable sites within the district centre. The Inspector agreed that this sustainable location was suitable for office use.

The Inspector also agreed with our findings in relation to the first reason for refusal that there was a wide range of apartments for sale or to let in close proximity and as such, the loss of ten residential apartments would not be detrimental to the sustainability of the area.

The appeal was allowed without conditions in August 2017.