A Notting Hill homeowner has accused Kensington and Chelsea Council of bias after councillors rejected his plans for a modern rooftop extension, reigniting a planning dispute that has already dragged on for two years.
Dr Michael Young, whose property on Victoria Gardens is worth £1.2 million, had applied to replace a two-metre privacy fence with a contemporary extension. The scheme was thrown out at a planning meeting on October 8, with councillors voting four to one against it after nearly an hour of debate.
Two-year battle over a fence
The row centres on a fence that has already been the subject of a protracted fight. The council ordered Dr Young to remove the two-metre structure in 2024 after ruling it had been erected without planning permission.
He challenged the enforcement action, and in May this year the Planning Inspectorate found in his favour, allowing the fence to remain. Weeks later, in June, he submitted new plans proposing to take the fence down and build a rooftop extension in its place — the application councillors have now refused.
Dr Young says the history of the case has poisoned the council’s attitude towards him. “With that council I will never have a fair hearing in relation to this,” he said. “The building is something that now has a history — and I believe that that history is clouding judgements.”
“I believe it’s highly personalised,” he added. “I believe that it will never be fairly considered.”
Tens of thousands spent on revisions
The homeowner, who bought the single-storey property — which includes a basement — for £1.15 million in 2023, said he had tried to work with the council. He paid for pre-application advice in November 2024 and spent “tens of thousands of pounds” revising the designs four times to address officers’ concerns.
The property itself is unusually small. Built in 2022 on land that was previously part of a neighbour’s garden, it has just 47 square metres of internal space — below the government’s 58 sq m minimum standard for new homes. The living room, kitchen and dining area are combined on the ground floor, and Dr Young sleeps in the basement.
The application attracted three objections and 12 letters of support from members of the public.
Conservation area row
Speaking in favour of the scheme, architect Tom Crofts — representing the Ladbroke Association committee — said the group’s support was significant given that it “almost always” objects to applications. In his view, the design showed “unusually high contextual sensitivity”.
Mr Crofts rejected the council officers’ argument that the proposal would harm the character of the conservation area, and dismissed the idea that the gap between buildings — described as a “townscape gap” — was important. “It’s never previously been identified as such in any conservation area appraisals,” he said. “On the contrary, to us, it seems more like a bit of a toothless gap waiting to be creatively filled.”
But Conservative councillor Lloyd North raised concerns about the design’s fit with its surroundings. “This is very unusual, there will be a lot of comment about this — does this fit between two Victorian buildings in a conservation area, of note?” he asked.
Councillor Anne Cyron agreed the scheme went too far. “We have modern buildings in our conservation areas, but they are sympathetic to their surroundings,” she said. “I think, on balance, given the very traditional nature of this terrace, this is just a step too far for me in terms of it being sympathetic.”
Appeal planned
Dr Young now intends to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. “I just feel it’s all completely unnecessary,” he said. “If people are just wanting to act reasonably in all this, then sit down and have a proper conversation. But I feel that there’s just been stonewalling all along.”
Strict controls in the borough
Kensington and Chelsea is known for operating some of the strictest planning controls in London, with much of Notting Hill sitting inside conservation areas where even modest alterations face close scrutiny. It is little surprise, then, that the borough finds itself at the centre of high-profile disputes — it was among the London councils warning that a proposed mansion tax could land residents with a £275m-a-year bill.
Property in the area remains fiercely expensive even as the wider prime market cools — house prices have fallen across five of London’s most expensive boroughs, including Kensington and Chelsea — which only raises the stakes when homeowners and the town hall clash over what can be built.
Planning refusals can be challenged through the Planning Inspectorate, the same independent body that ruled in Dr Young’s favour over the fence in May. Appeals are decided by a government-appointed inspector rather than the council itself, a route the homeowner now intends to take. It is the latest example of town hall decision-making coming under the microscope in the capital, as a fire brigade review could take Wandsworth’s only engine off the road for hours.
