MARCH businessman Geoff Lord can add a fifth refusal to four previous unsuccessful attempts to persuade Fenland planners that an office that looks like a bungalow should become one.

“The application is effectively a resubmission of four previous applications, three of which have been refused with one dismissed on appeal,” the planning committee of Fenland Council was told.

“The application is essentially the same as the previous refusals and as a result most of the issues still apply.”

Officers said the issues are mainly associated with sustainability, residential amenity and the necessity for such conversion.

“The proposal remains contrary to planning policies and therefore should be refused,” the committee heard.

Mr Lord owns the office at Cromwell Works, Creek Fen, March, and he claims the council has ignored the fact that the appearance of the building has fundamentally changed between 1968 and 2008.

Permission was given in 1968 for a temporary building but Mr Lord said in 2008 when he got consent for a pitched roof it transformed it into a modern self contained bungalow.

“The conversion has already taken place in that the building already has the external appearance of a bungalow, whilst it’s residential use would not require any changes to the internal layout” he said.

He said there was no other possible use for the building which left “residential use as the only viable alternative”.

Councillors however refused the change of use. They told Mr Lord he had produced no evidence that other uses were unviable.